ATTENTION AND MEMORY IN ILLICIT AMPHETAMINE USERS - COMPARISON WITH NON-DRUG-USING CONTROLS

The purpose of this study was to clarify the extent of neuropsychologi cal impairment previously found among amphetamine users (McKetin and M attick, 1997) by comparing them with a non-drug-using control group. A mphetamine users who were classified as low dependence (n = 15) or hig h dependence (n = II) according to the severity of dependence scale (S DS) were compared to non-drug-using control subjects (n = 9) on indice s of the Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised (WMS-R). Dependent amphetamine users (high dependence group) performed approximately one half of a st andard deviation worse than controls on the verbal memory, attention!c oncentration and delayed recall indices of the WMS-R but amphetamine u sers who were less dependent (low dependence group) showed no impairme nt. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.