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the opposite at a later time. Yet
millions today- adults, not just
young people- pop pi lis as if they
were candy, as if there were no
dangers or risks in drugs.
All drugs by their very nature
have potential side effects. That
includes common nonprescription
drugs you can huy over the coun–
ter. All drugs alter or interfere
with the natural course of sorne
bodily condition or function.
"The potential for drug abuse
radically arises when drugs are
not taken as prescribed [that is,
are taken casually or as one
wants], or are used in combina–
tion with other drugs,
or alco–
hol,"
says former drug commis–
sioner Larrick.
Drug-Aicohol Dynamite
What catches many people by
surprise-some too late because
they are dead-is that sorne drugs
react synergistically with alcohol
and other drugs. That is, one drug
plus another drug does not equal
the effect of two drugs. The com–
bination may produce a reaction
within the body 1O or even 50
times greater than either drug
alone.
The Bible
reveal~
that alcohol
has a proper use-in moderation
and control at all t imes. But don't
forget, alcohol is, technically, a
drug.
It
is a readily metabolized
one in most persons. Still, you
need to understand tha t not
everyone responds to alcohol in
the same way. You are not prov–
ing you are a man or woman by
unexpectedly getting smashed by
alcohol or drugs. You are proving
just the opposite.
Many medica! personnel are
alarmed. Adults as well as young
people are mixing alcohol with
other drugs in unprecedented and
staggering proportions. A lot of
these persons have been just plain
lucky. Maybe they haven't suf–
fered serious reactions-yet. But
given time, many will.
It
could be
you if you do it.
There is no way
1
can overem–
phasize this fact.
Every person's
to/erance for drugs is different,
just as everyone's tolerance for
April 1981
various foods is different. A
drug- a tranquilizer for exam–
ple- and alcoholic drink taken
closely together may produce few
or no obvious ill effects in one
person and yet kili another with
sudden ferocity.
Mixing medicines or drugs of
any kind may make one drug act
faster or slower than it is sup–
posed to. It may intensify a drug
reaction or neutralize it.
Joe Graedon, a pharmacologist
writing in
Esquire,
May, 1976,
warned: " Mixing medicines, even
with nonprescription agents–
alcohol , cold remedies, pain
relievers, vitamins, antacids- is
like playing Russian roulette: you
The administering of
drugs by doctors is not a
pure science. It involves
sorne guesswork. The use
.
of any drug involves
taking chances.
' '
never know when a particular
combination will finish you off."
He emphasized: "Booze and
tranquilizers do not mix . To–
gether they produce a deep seda–
t ion.... This drug interaction
may lead to a big fall in blood
pressure-and to a breathing fail–
ure.' '
He also warned against mixing
alcohol with such a commonly
used drug as aspi rin . "Alcohol
makes your stomach supersensi–
tive [to aspirin] . Sign ificant
bleeding from the stomach wall
can result."
Articles l ike this o ne in
Esquire,
entitled "Killing Com–
bos," pages 136-142, are impor–
tant reading for everyone.
Harmless Pot?
What about pot? Lots of people
you know or see may be using it ,
and they may look and act OK
the next day. But are they? No,
they are not! Tbey are walking
time bombs!
Why? Because THC, the
major psychoactive ingredient in
marijuana smoke, has an affinity
for fatty body tissues and brain
tissues. Once you have used mari–
juana for any length
o(
t ime,
months of abstinence are required
for all the accumulated THC to
be excreted by the body.
But what if these individuals
have an accident, or get sick with
a serious illness, with marijuana
substances or other drugs ftoating
around in their bloodstream or
body? What if they need potent
medica! drugs to save them?
What will happen?
What these young (or old) pot,
alcohol and pi
U
poppers have done is
multiply the chances of a serious
drug reaction if other drugs must be
administered to them for sorne rea–
son. They may look all right to you,
but the truth is their lives are more
endangered!
"1
get a very sick feeling in the
pit of my stomach when 1 hear
talk about marijuana being safe,"
said Robert L. DuPont, former
director of the National Institute
on Drug Abuse. "Marijuana," he
said in an interview recently, " is a
very powerful agent, which is
affecting the body in many ways.
Now what the full range of these
consequences is going to prove to
be, one can only guess at this
point. But, from wbat we already
know, 1 have no doubt that tbey
are going to be horrendous."
Pot has been in popular usage
in the United States and many
other nations for only a little
more than 15 years.
It
took 50
years of research for truly serious
implications of cigarette smoking
to become firmly established.
But already evidence of serious
or potential health damage from
pot smoki ng is mounting with ·
each passing year. There is grow–
ing evidence that regular use of
marijuana produces lung damage,
immunity system damage and
threats of cancer. Marijuana
smoke has been found to contain
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