Pubdate: Sat, 17 Aug 2002
Source: Erie Times-News (PA)
Copyright: 2002 Erie Times-News
Contact:  http://www.goerie.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1347
Author: Sandra S. Bennett

ILLICIT DRUGS DANGEROUS

Kathleen Parker is wrong. The only reason people use illicit drugs is to 
get high.

Lester Grinspoon, Harvard's resident pro-pot psychiatrist, has been 
claiming since the early 1980s that cocaine if used in moderation is not 
harmful, i.e., not an abuse. He has repeated this ridiculous notion 
numerous times over the years in medical journals, but unfortunately this 
malarkey is still often quoted and accepted by college students as license 
to do cocaine.

The truth is that there is a plethora of medical scientific documentation 
that even a small amount of cocaine can bring about fatal cardiac arrest up 
to three days after use.

Tragically, the life of our oldest son was claimed that way in 1986 during 
his senior year in college. An autopsy showed a trace of cocaine. An 
extensive examination of his heart tissue, however (3,000 slides), affirmed 
that cocaine was, indeed, the cause.

Illicit drugs are dangerous. The tragedies associated with illicit 
substances are much greater than Parker supposes.

Sandra S. Bennett

LaCenter, WA
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom