Neuropsychologist details effects of impairment

Cognition and behaviour, and the impairment thereof, were front and centre at the trial of Rick Harold Ermine on Monday.
The 39-year-old is accused of second-degree murder in connection with the Oct. 21, 2006 death of his common-law spouse, Leslie Anne Longjohn.
Defense attorney Ed Stephens presented neuropsychologist Dr. Darcy Halmer with a hypothetical situation of a 39-year-old, five-foot-five, 160-pound male who is "a drug user … as evidenced by needle marks in his arm" and also drinks.
This hypothetical man, said Stephens, has consumed - over the course of one evening - one cup of wine, four Tylenol 3's, one cooler by himself and another with his spouse, four pink pills "that will relax him", and more wine. He has also injected one Ritalin capsule.
"How would the alcohol affect him physically and mentally?" Stephens asked Halmer.
Halmer said on the mental plane, the man would experience impaired cognition, as well as impaired judgment and memory, paranoia and disinhibition. The physical effects, he said, "could include drowsiness, possible motor dysfunction, unco-ordination."
Halmer said the Ritalin's effects would be immediate.
"It's not uncommon that it could effect a rapid onset of euphoria," he stated.
This, however, would be followed by a physiological letdown, said Halmer. Mentally, the man would not process information as fast as normally and would be "easily upset by stimuli in the environment" because his thinking process and movements have been hampered.
"The basis of behaviour is cognition, and cognition will be impaired by drugs and alcohol. The question is, how much will it be impaired?" Halmer asked.
He said executive functions would be affected. These which include inhibition, or the ability to think of the consequences before acting, and working memory, which is the memory of all strategies which can be brought to bear on the situation.
Halmer's testimony continues today.