ALCOHOLISM 1

The Road to RecoveryAlcoholism is a worldwide problem especially in advanced nations, but it is

also a problem for which the mode and level of treatment is common to mostnations. On May 8, 1976, 52 prominent people met in Washington, D.C., to

announce to the press and the world: "We are recovered alcoholics." Dubbed"Operation Understanding," the media event was sponsored by the NationalCouncil on Alcoholism to dispel the myth that alcoholism doesn't happen to

"nice" people and to reduce the moral stigma that cripples efforts tosuccessfully treat the disease. "Operation Understanding" also underscored

the tact that people can recover from alcoholism and that there are resourcesand agencies that can help alcoholics resume-or enjoy tor the first

time-normal, happy, successful lives without alcohol. To find out whatresources exist on a local level to help the alcoholic achieve sobriety, we senta contributing editor into the community of Pasadena, California. Here is his

report.

rv yhile 500.000 alcoholics inW Southern California werev v making the rounds of the

bars, careening in cars on the free-ways, or nursing their bottles athome on the evening of August 25,1976,200 plus happy, grateful, re-covered alcoholics were celebratingthe 35th anniversary of the SouthPasadena-San Marino chapter of Al-coholics Anonymous and their ownsobriety. They were a living testimo-ny that alcoholism can be overcome.

Alcoholics Anonymous is the mostsuccessful modality of treatment foralcoholism in existence today. It be-gan in 1935 when two alcoholics dis-covered they could strengthen theirsobriety by sharing their experiencesand helping others suffering from al-coholism. Today AA has grown to22,000local chapters in 92 countries.An estimated one million people par-ticipate in AA-more than found inall other modalities of treatmentcombined.AA Steps and Traditions. On theflyleaf of their literature AA de-scribes itself "a fellowship of menand women who share their experi-ence, strength, and hope with each

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other that they may solve their com-mon problem and help others to re-cover from alcoholism." AA is non-sectarian and nonpolitical. It neitherendorses nor opposes any causes.

The key to the individual alco-holic's success are the "TwelveSteps" of AA, and the key to AA'ssuccess as an organization is its"Twelve Traditions."

The "Twelve Steps" read at thestart of every AA meeting, starts asfollows:. We admitted we were powerlessover alcohol-that our lives had be-come unmanageable.. Came to believe that a Powergreater than ourselves could restoreus to sanity.. Made a decision to turn our willand our lives over to the care of Godas we understood Him.. Made a searching and fearless mo-ral inventory of ourselves.

The "Twelve Traditions" that gov-ern the fellowship as a whole includesuch points as:. The only requirement for AAmembership is a desire to stop drink-ing.. An AA group ought never endorse,

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finance, or lend the AA name to anyrelated facility or outside enterprise.. Every AA group ought to be fullyself-supporting, declining outsidecontributions.. Alcoholics Anonymous should re-main forever nonprofessional but ourservice centers may employ specialworkers.. Anonymity is the spiritual founda-tion of our traditions, ever remindingus to place principles before person-alities. (In respect of that tradition,only initials or pseudonyms of alco-holics are used in this article.)The Payoff-Sobriety. The fruitsof AA's approach to alcoholism wereeverywhere in evidence at the 35thanniversary celebration. It was evi-dent in the happy smiles, the warmhandshakes, the camaraderie, andthe concern that pervaded the room.

It was evident from the number of"birthdays" being observed. "Birth-days" in AA are the date of a mem-ber's last drink. Each complete yearof sobriety is celebrated with a"birthday cake." That evening 13people observed from I to 30 years ofcomplete sobriety. It was evident inthe reactions and words of those who

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came forward to blow out the candleson their cakes.

The "babe" of the celebrants, amiddle-aged woman, B. G., wasmarking her first year of sobriety.After hugging her sponsor (the per-son who helped and encouraged herto attend AA) and blowing out hercandle, she turned to the audienceand began, "I'm a very grateful alco-holic . . . " but could not finish forthe tears ofjoy.

A middle-aged man. S. H., cele-brating 5 years of sobriety, said withprofound emotion, "[f I could havewritten a scenario five years ago, Icouldn't have imagined all the goodthings that have happened to mesince I achieved sobriety."

The last of the celebrants was awealthy businessman. T. P., with 30years of sobriety. A dozen of his chil-dren and grandchildren were therefor the occasion and applauded withspecial vigor. He asked, "How canyou express what it is like to have10,959 days of sobriety after experi-encing 20 years of alcoholic livingdeath?"Help That Goes Begging. In theUnited States, an estimated one outof every ten drinkers is an alcoholic.That adds up to over nine millionpeople of all ages for whom one drinkis too many and a thousand is neverenough.

In Britain there is a minimum offive hundred thousand alcoholics, butit must be remembered that for vir-tually every alcoholic there are sev-eral other sufferers-wives, hus-bands, children, parents, friends, em-ployers.

Pasadena has its share-14,000 byone estimate. Only a small fraction ofthem have sobered up, but it has notbeen for lack of opportunity or help.Pasadena has a wide variety of agen-cies and programs to help the alco-holic. "There's help running out ofthe ears," says Jean B. Vandervoot,executive director of the PasadenaCouncil on Alcoholism. But alcohol-ism is a disease of denial. Most alco-holics will not admit to themselves,let alone anyone else, that they havea drinking problem.

Consequently, it is very difficult tohelp most alcoholics until they havesunk into their own personal hell. Al-coholics must often suffer brokenmarriages, lost jobs, jail sentences,

auto accidents, cirrhosis of the liver,delirium tremens, and other crisesbefore they run out of alibis and seekhelp.

"Referral and educational servicessuch as ours can help people to avoidgoing to the bottom," says Jean."People don't have to lose loved onesor jobs. If they're informed and ifthey get treatment and help in themiddle part of their disease, they cansave themselves from all that suffer-ing."The Turn of the Tide. [n spite of thereadily available help, a certain per-centage do hit the bottom of bot-toms-the late or chronic phasewhere obsessive drinking results inphysical complications and imminentdeath. For these people, recoverymust begin at one of the two detoxif-ication centers in Pasadena: Pasa-dena Community Hospital or St.Luke Hospital.

Similar 'drying out' centers existin most major cities in America andEurope.

On the wall in the corridor of thedetoxification ward of PasadenaCommunity Hospital hangs a posterwith a message and metaphor. Themessage is: "The lowest ebb is theturn of the tide." The metaphor is aturbulent surf crashing on the rocksof a rugged coastline.

The poster states a fact and pre-sents a hope for the alcoholic. Thefact is his health, his very life, is onthe rocks. Alcohol has devastated hispersonal life and is literally killinghim. He has come or been referred tothe "detox unit" "to dry out" undermedical supervision because it's toodangerous to do so on his own.

The hope is that they can bottomout and rebound. Most alcoholicswho seek help do recover and go on tolead productive, happy lives.

While touring the detox facility atPasadena Community Hospital, acall came from the front desk: An al-coholic man wanted to be admitted.Staff counselor Bill Rose went to seehim. At the age of 27, Bill is a veter-an, an expert on drug abuse, havingspent over half his life-14 years-asan addict-alcoholic, a multiple druguser. Now he's part of the solutioninstead of the problem. He has been"clean" for a year and started work-ing in the detox unit a couple ofmonths ago.

Bill brought back a dishevelled,4O-year-old man - the kind of alco-holic stereotyped in jokes and TVcomedy skits. But this real-life alco-holic was no laughing matter, rathera sick man named Lany.

Larry said he had been drinkinghalf a gallon of vodka over the pastcouple of days. Now he was "taper-ing off'with wine to avoid deliriumtremens. He had them once beforeseveral years ago and doesn't want toexperience the agony again. He hadalso been hallucinating. The paper-work was begun, and Larry starteddetoxification and a 2l-day rehabili-tation program which consists of twovital parts: occupational therapy andgroup therapy.Small But lmportant Steps. JerrieWilliams, occupational therapist inthe detox unit, gave me a tour of theoccupational therapy room. It issmall and simply equipped and con-tains supplies for painting, knitting,and macrame. In another room thereis some exercise equipment for thosewho want a little more vigorous ac-tivity.

As plain and simple as some of thematerials and tasks are, they haveimportant therapeutic benefits. Thefirst steps toward recovery must nec-essarily be small and often undra-matic.

All alcoholics are losers in somesense, and some are complete los-ers-people who have never suc-ceeded, never accomplished anythingin their life. Learning to perform ru-dimentary tasks in occupational ther-apy can provide positive reinforce-ment that enables them to tackle big-ger tasks and problems of everydayliving.A Rebirth, The heart and core ofevery rehabilitation program is grouptherapy. Here the alcoholic faces thereality of himself-his problems,needs and aspirations. He also facesthe reality of other people who, he of-ten discovers, are cut from the samefragile, imperfect cloth.

"We try to improve their self-image. In the deepest part of theirbeing, alcoholics don't like them-selves. They feel very inferior," saysGeorge Richardson, another staffcounselor. "By getting everyone tocome out from behind his shield,each alcoholic learns that he isn't anydifferent from anyone else. This

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helps him to accept others and copewith anger, resentment, and frustra-tion rather than drink."

The detox unit at St. Luke Hospi-tal across town is larger and the pro-gram somewhat different. But it toois a benign assault on a losing, de-structive life-style. While being de-toxified at St. Luke Hospital, the al-coholic patient is evaluated for thefollowing 2l-day program designedto help him clean up-and dry up-his act and get a new and winningshow on the road. As Bob C., a recov-ered alcoholic, put it, "Sobriety is thetip of the iceberg. What is involved isa brand new life, a new beginning. IfI may say so, a rebirth."

Sean Hamilton, community ser-vices coordinator for St. Luke's detoxunit, explained that "we evaluateevery aspect of the patient's lifephysically, psychologically, socially,and even spiritually. Each patient isgiven a complete physical, not only todiagnose alcohol-related diseases butany other ailments he may have. Wehave physical therapy for those whoneed it. If the alcoholic has problemswith his job, we bring in the em-

ployer. If he is dissatisfied with hisjob, we interview him for vocationalrehabilitation.

"Families, friends, employers-anyone connected with the alco-holic-are brought in to help con-front the patient with his problem aswell as be a part in his recovery."

In addition, St. Luke Hospital hasestablished an out patient program tohelp the alcoholic stay dry in a wetworld. "But no one can do the entirejob alone," stresses Hank Klein, chiefalcoholic therapist at St. Luke Hos-pital. "We cooperate with otheragencies. We tie the alcoholic's re-covery into the community-based re-sources."Recovery Homes. The first com-munity resource that alcoholics areexposed to is AA. The second is oftenthe recovery home, the half-wayhouse on the road to sustained sobrie-ty. Pasadena has three: the Grand-view Foundation, the Bishop GoodenHome, and La Casa (for women).The setup and program varies fromhome to home, but each provides aminimum of three to four weeks ofrefuge and rehabilitation.

The Bishop Gooden Home pri-marily serves the white-collar work-er, the professional man, and theprosperous businessman. In contrast,The Grandview Foundation has amore heterogeneous group includingthe unskilled, the indigent, and thewelfare case. Three or four weeksmay not suffice for many of the lessfortunate, so a relatively new nonres-idential program has been developedto provide needy alcoholics with l0 tol5 months of counsel and help. "Wefeel that the alcoholic needs to be in-volved for at least a year in rehabprograms-AA, group therapy,etc.-to be able to say he has put hisact together. That is the bare mini-mum necessary to stabilize fairlywell his sobriety," states James Pa-nariello, program director for Grand-view.

But even then relapses are possibleand that is why regular attendance atAA is the best guarantee of happysobriety. A number of authorities be-lieve it takes three to five years of to-tal sobriety to say an alcoholic is tru-ly stable and recovered.

La Casa, established in 1968, issomething of a rarity in alcohol reha-bilitation-a facility exclusively for

women. In Britain there is a similarcenter at Spelthorne St. Mary inHertfordshire. "If only they hadsomething like this back in NewYork City, I might have recoveredsooner," lamented E.M., a recoveredalcoholic.

"But they don't because women al-coholics aren't as visible as men alco-holics. I just stayed home all day anddrank. Anytime I needed some more,I just got on the phone and said,'Send over a case.'"

And then, without prompting, shegaYe a bout by bout account of herdrinking career: (Be forewarned! Aska recovered alcoholic a simple ques-tion, and you may get a ten-minuteautobiographical sketch. Their can-dor is amazing-and refreshing.) "Itfinally got so bad that I was rushed tothe hospital vomiting up blood. Mytemperature was 106o. I needed nineblood transfusions. I stayed in thehospital for two weeks living on jel-lo.

"The day I got out, I walkedaround the corner and bought a bot-tle. I still had further to go to reachthe gutter.

"I finally ended up in the psychiat-ric ward in Bellevue . . . In a momentof clarity, I said to myself, 'You're introuble. Do exactly what they say.' Idid and got out. But I never lickedmy problem until I came west anddiscovered La Casa."Carrot and Stick. "Whereas inmany countries the drunken driver istreated purely as a criminal, in Pasa-dena he is treated as a sick person,and for him there is a special route torecovery. First-time offenders are re-ferred to four, weekly 2t/z-hour edu-cational and rap sessions on alcoholabuse and available recovery pro-grams. First-time offenders are moti-vated by the carrot of a reduced finefor successfully completing the pro-gram or the stick of the full fine fornot attending.

Multiple offenders are referred tothe High Road Program. The HighRoad Program provides a minimumof 12 months for the education andresocialization of the chronic alcoholand other drug abuser. The goal isthe revamping of the drug offender'slife-style.

"The rate of recovery or lifechange is phenomenal," reports Rob-ert Dorris, project director of the

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High Road Program. "We're seeing80% to 90% of the participants makea basic change. The length of theproblem is a big key to its success.We don't claim to have more infor-mation-just more time for people tounderstand and absorb it."

Helen Dorris, personnel directorfor the program, points out anotherfactor that is lacking in most otherprograms: The carrot and stick moti-vation provided by the courts givesalcoholics an added incentive to com-ply with the program. Failure to doso could mean no reduction incharges or legal penalties, and theyare much more serious for multipleoffenders.Cooperation and Care. A recentdevelopment in Pasadena is the for-mation of a coalition of agencies andprograms dealing with alcoholism inthe city which could serve as an ex-ample for other areas and nationswhere cooperation is usually of alooser nature. "This had been donebefore in name, but until now not infact," states Charles M. "Buz"Hamilton. assistant executive direc-tor of the Pasadena Council on Alco-holism. "We strive to assist eachother and keep the focus on helpingthe alcoholics in Pasadena."

"Oh there are some internalsquabbles," admits Sean Hamilton,"But we're all working for the samegoal. We allrealize we need coopera-tion-not competition."

This spirit of cooperation is but amanifestation of a factor that all thediverse programs and agencies havein common-that great intangiblecalled love, care, concern. Thosethree words cropped up again andagain as I talked with recovered alco-holics and those involved in rehabili-tation. "You don't have to have a de-gree to help alcoholics," declaredColleen Cervik, who supervises thePasadena Community Hospital de-tox unit. "But it does take care.People who care, who are dedicatedto helping others, make all the differ-ence in an alcohol recovery pro-gram."

Epilogue: After writing the story Icalled Bill Rose and asked him aboutLarry. "Funny you should ask," hereplied. "I just saw him a while ago.He's up at Grandview, and is attend-ing group therapy and AA. He'scoming along fine." tr

Freddy C. was a well-known en-tertainer whose career and familylife were nearly destroyed by hisaddiction to alcohol. Since over-coming the problem, he has re-cently had a book published, enti-tled The Alcohol Problem Ex-

plained.

by Freddy C.

Th. year 1954 was, to quote a! phrase, a vintage one. I was^ considered one of the top musi-

cians in Britain. I was married to awife with whom I was very much inlove, and I had two lovely daughters.It seemed nothing could possibly gowrong.

My work consisted of accompany-ing all the big "names" in the worldof films, recordings, and TV. I was onfirst-name terms with all thoseartists. This was not only good for mybankbook but also my ego.

But if I had position, money, andfamily life, I also had one other thingthatjust cannot be left out ofthis littlesaga-alcohol. And if the truth mustbe told, I was quite happy with thearrangement. For alcohol is unique.Its properties are remarkable: If youare cold, it will create the feeling ofwarmth; if you are warm, it will bringthe illusion ofcoolness. Ifyou are tired,it will provide instant energy; if you aretense, it will act as an instant relaxer.Not for nothing has it been called Na-ture's Anesthetic, and for those whocan handle the stuff, it has at timesproved a blessing.

But I couldn't handle it. Andpeople who can't handle it shouldn'tdrink it. But when the exacting anddemanding work started to bringmental pressures, I found that a glassof Scotch brought not only instant re-lief but also a confidence that wasneeded to do a particular job. And sothe bottle became as necessary a partof my equipment as was my instru-ment.

A person who drinks for reasonsother than social is on a dangerouspath, and I was no exception. Theprice that had to be paid for mybooze slowly crept up. Rows, tears,and scenes with my wife and girlswere commonplace.

The one-time dependable charac-ter who used to sit in the orchestra

with "neryes of steel" was slowly re-duced to a nervous, shaky, patheticcharacter whose only nerves werethose of alcohol.

"Try and control your drinking,"friends advised. "lJse a bit of will-power," they declared. "Pull yourselftogether," they suggested. I justcouldn't get through to them that IwAs trying to control the stuff; I wlstrying to use my willpower.

What I did not know is that alco-hol, to the alcoholic, is the greatestdestroyer of the will; and when thewill has gone, so has the control. Andwhen the control has gone, the alco-holic is in no position to pull himselfor herself together. Once the firstdrink has gone down, the mental ob-

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ENEMIES?session coupled with the physicalcompulsion makes the alcoholic aslave to alcohol.

And so the job, money, family, andeverything else that I had so desper-ately tried to hold on to started to go.What was I to do? First of all I wentto see the family doctor. "How can Ihelp you?" he asked.

"[t's my nerves," I answeredtruthfully. After all, they were in aterrible state. So he treated me fornerves, and things got worse. He sentme to a psychiatrist (I was to visiteight in all), and he, too, asked methe problem. This time I mentionedthat I drank a little too much, butonly because of the pressure of work,plus the fact that I now suffered frominsomnia and amnesia.

He treated me for tension, nerves,insomnia, and amnesia, and I contin-ued to drink and continued to sufferfrom nerves, tension, insomnia, andamnesia. It was as vicious a circle asone could imagine, and I couldn't getout of it. I tried hypnotists, faithhealers, and health farms, but theend result was that I woke up in apolice cell and then was moved to alocked ward in an alcoholic unit. Itwas here that they did the impossi-ble: They stopped me from drink-mg.

But I subsequently learned thatthe alcoholic's main problem is notonly to srop drinking, but also tosrAy stopped. After being releasedfrom the unit, I began drinking al-most immediately. In sheer despera-tion I phoned Alcoholics Anony-mous, and the same night I attendedmy first meeting.

I just could not see how the well-dressed and seemingly happy peoplethere could in any way be identifiedwith the shivering mess that was me.But the minute the speaker openedhis mouth, I knew that I was in theright place. He talked my language.One reason AA is so successful is be-cause when a shy, embarrassed alco-holic walks into their meeting, no onelaughs, condemns, or ridicules him,because all of them, without excep-tion, were in similar shape when theythemselves began attending. It is thatpersonal identification that contrib-utes to the success of AA. All havebeen in exactly the same boat--orbar-as the newcomer. And as soonas the new member feels rner kindof identification, they are on the firstrung of the ladder back to sobrietyand sanity.

But just to stop drinking alcohol isnot enough in the treatment for theillness of alcoholism; the alcoholicmust not only stop drinking alcohol,he must also stop thinking alcohol.The thought precedes the action:If he thinks it, he will drinkit.

Alcohol is unique, and so is alco-holism. And to combat alcoholism,there has to be something equallyunique-the Fellowship of Alcohol-ics Anonymous. The number of thenearest AA group is in your phonebook. Dial now if you need help.

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/r^.1 hances are better than f,fty-fif-( 'ty that you know someone who\-261;n1s too much. The NationalCouncil on Alcoholism estimates thatat least one out of every ten peoplewho drink in the United States suf-fers from the disease of alcoholism.That fact translates into ten millionalcoholics!

And less than five percent of themare on skid row. The other 95-pluspercent have "skid row between theears," but otherwise live and work atall levels of society. They are bank-ers, corporate executives, politicians,truck drivers, teachers, secretariesand housewives. They are yourfriends, your fellow workers, mem-bers of your family.

And when one is a close friend, rel-ative or mate, you suffer right alongwith the alcoholic. It isn't true thatpeople with drinking problems hurtonly themselves. Experience showsthat at least four other persons areaffected by the behavior of a problemdrinker. He can't keep his problemcontained within himself. It extendsto his family, friends, fellow workers,and employers.

What can you do? First, realizethat the situation is not hopeless.People can recover from alcoholism.Effective help is available. The excel-lent program of Alcoholics Anony-mous, for example, is available inhundreds of communities from coastto coast. AA claims its program hashelped over one million peopleachieve sobriety.

Here are some dos and don'ts toeffectively deal with a problerndrinker and steer him toward a re-covery program.

DO. Learn about the disease of alcohol-ism and how to recognize the symp-toms by reading the literatureprinted by health agencies. Alcohol-ism is a complex, progressive disor-der that involves a physical and psy-chological dependence (addiction) onthe drug alochol. The alcoholic can'tstop drinking once he's started, eventhough alcohol is destroying his life.Unless the nonalcoholic person un-derstands the nature of the disease,

he cannot deal effectively with a per-son suffering from it.

Most people know little or nothingabout alcoholism. And what they thinkthey "know" is probably mostly madeup of myths and misconceptions. (Twoexcellent information agencies on alco-holism in the United States are the Na-tional Council on Alcoholism, 733Third Ave., New York, New York10017 and the National Clearinghousefor Alcohol Information, Box 2345,Rockville, Maryland 20852).. Learn about the resources in yourcommunity for dealing with alcohol-ism. Ignorance of the resources avail-able to treat the disease is as great asignorance of the disease itself. Visitan alcoholic treatment center or an

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MUCHopen meeting of Alcoholics Anony-mous, a fellowship of men andwomen who help each other maintaintheir sobriety. Look into Al-Anon, anorganization which deals with theproblems of those who live with alco-holics. (In recent years more andmore experts have come to realizethat alcoholism cannot be treated asif it involved the alcoholic alone. It isa family disease and successful ther-apy must involve the entire family.)

Discuss the situation with someoneyou trust-a clergyman, social work-er, a friend-preferably someonewho has experienced alcoholism per-sonally or as a family member.

Remain calm, and be factually hon-est in speaking with the problemdrinker about his behavior.

. Let the problem drinker know youare reading and learning about alco-holism. Let him know where he cango for help.. Establish and maintain a healthyatmosphere at home, and try to in-clude the alcoholic member in familylife.. Explain the nature of alcoholism tothe children involved.. Encourage new interests and parti-cipate in activities that the alcoholicperson enjoys--cxcept drinking, ofcourse.. Be patient. Live one day at a time.Alcoholism generally develops over aperiod of years. It can't be curedovernight. Expect and accept set-backs with perseYerance and calm-NESS.

DON'T. Attempt to punish, threaten, bribe,cajole or preach. Guard against "hol-ier-than-thou" or martyrlike atti-tudes.. Lose your temper and thereby de-stroy any possibility of helping.. Allow your anxiety to compel youto try to do what the alcoholic canonly do for himsclf.. Cover up or make excuses for thealcoholic person or shield him fromthe consequences of his behavior.. Hide or dump bottles, or shelter theproblem drinker from situationswhere alcohol is present. Such mea-sures are self-defeating. Remember,the alcoholic is addicted to alcohol,and one way or another he will obtainthe drug he craves.. Argue with an alcoholic when he isdrunk.. Drink along with the problemdrinker.. Ride with the alcoholic person if heinsists on drinking and driving.Drinking drivers are responsible for800,000 auto crashes and theslaughter of over 28,000 lives in theUnited States each"year.. Accept guilt for another's behav-ior.

In short, don't ignore the problemor be afraid to be involved. Do learnabout alcoholism, guide the drinkerto help, and support him in his battlewith the bottle.

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DRUGSWho Needs Them?

The primary problem with drugs is not what they do, nor who uses them-butwhy people abuse them. Until we can answer the why, drug abuse amongteenagers-and adults-is here to stay. Drugs are not the problem-but

symptoms of other problems.

IEn many respects, the current drugI scene is a replay of the forbidden-Ifruit scene in the Garden of

Eden.You know the story. "Did God say,

'You shall not eat of any tree of thegarden'?" said the serpent (Satan)for openers. Every tree is all right toeat, replied Eve dutifully, except thetree of the knowledge of good andevil, which would be fatal.

Then the serpent gave the come-on: "You will not die. For God knowsthat when you eat of it your eyes willbe opened, and you will be like God,knowing good and evil."

It worked. "So when the womansaw that the tree was good for food,and that it was a delight to the eyes,and that the tree was to be desired tomake one uise, she took of its fruitand ate; and she also gave some toher husband, and he ate" (Gen. 3:1.7). The rest is history.The Modern Forbidden Fruit. To-day's forbidden fruit for teenagersare the psychoactive drugs: marijua-na, LSD, mescaline, barbiturates andamphetamines, and the opiates. Mil-lions of young people find the temp-tation to try them at least once to beirresistible. And they are truly amixed bag of good and evil: all ofthem can be used for legitimate med-ical purposes-but they also can beused in ways that can destroy healthand happiness. Many who have triedthe harder drugs have "surely"died.

But, of course, our analogy withthe tree is not complete. For thischemical tree of the knowledge ofgood and evil does not grow in a20th-century Garden of Eden. Itflourishes in a world that is turning

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into a man-made hell. For manypeople, psychoactive drugs have be-come a means of pursuing paradisesin the mind (or at least escaping a ho-hum or hapless existence).

So the circumstances havechanged - but people have not.What motivated Adam and Eve totry the forbidden fruit also motivatesteenagers to try drugs today.Fun-A Neurological Necessity."It was a delight to the eyes" goesthe official account. In other words,the tree was very pleasing to thesenses.

Likewise, psychoactive drugs canbe a delight to the eyes-and theears, and the nose, and the tastebuds. They enhance, they alter, thestimuli coming to the brain from thefive senses. These novel sensationsand perceptions are considered to befun, and they constitute one of theprimary reasons people play withthese chemicals.

Now for some Basic Psychologyl0l. Everybody likes to experiencefun, joy and pleasure. We like to beentertained and amused. We like toexperience new and pleasant sights,sounds and tastes.

But "like" is not really the word.Pleasure, good times, enjoyable stim-uli are more than superfluities or lux-uries in life - they are necessary tolife itself. Considerable research in-dicates that stimulation through thefive senses is one of the primaryneeds of higher organisms.

Stimulus hunger is a basic motiva-tion. Enjoyable stimuli are soughtand preferred, but if only the un-pleasant or uninteresting stimuli areavailable, the brain will settle forwhat it can get rather than shrivel

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up. The brain survives in such cases,but mental health suffers.

That stimulus hunger is a compell-ing, life-sustaining need can be seenin the following experiments.Variety-The Very Stuff of Life.In one experiment, researchers ana-lyzed the effect of boredom. Collegestudents were paid to don paddingand blindfolds and lie on beds in iso-lated rooms so that sensory stimuli-sight, sound, touch-were reduced toa minimum. What remained was ex-tremely monotonous. -

As time dragged on, students be-came irritable, restless, unable toconcentrate. They talked to them-selves, whistled, sang, recited poetry,counted numbers-anything to re-lieve the boredom. Eventually theboredom made it impossible for someto think, and they just let their mindsdrift. And to the surprise of the re-searchers (they discounted the re-ports until they went through the testthemselves) many of the students af-ter long periods of isolation began tohallucinate.Of Rats and Men. If the mind hasan aversion to boredom, it reallytunes in and turns on to abundantpleasurable stimuli. This was demon-strated in an experiment where scien-tists implanted electrodes into thepleasure centers of rats'brains. Theyplaced the rats in test boxes that hada treadle. By pressing it, the rats re-ceived a very mild electrical shock totheir brains. To get another stimulus,the treadle had to be released andpressed again.

The rats "turned on" to the elec-tric stimulus test-lite rally. Ratswith electrodes planted in the hypo-thalamus - which mediates diges-

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tive, sexual and excretory pro-cesses-went into electrical ecstasy.They stimulated themselves from500 to 5000 times per hour. Somestimulated their brains more than2000 times per hour for 24 consecu-tive hours! So rewarding was thisstimulation that the rats forsook allexternal pleasures, food, water, sex,everything - to trip on the treadle.Human beings aren't rats. But attimes they feel as if they are treatedlike rats, and they speak of droppingout of the "rat tace." In the mid-six-ties a lot of them - mostly teenagers- did

just that. They turned on withLSD and other drugs that provided adirect connection to their brains, in-tensifying sensory experiences. Andthey turned on with other "elec-trodes" such as STP and speed.These drug binges often lasted fordays-so new and powerful was theexperlence."Desired to Make One Wise." Ofcourse, human brains are muchlarger, human cognitive processesmuch more complex, than rat brains.People have higher and more variedneeds and motivations. Man does notlive by bread and circuses alone. Heis also motivated by concerns for se-curity, love, self-esteem, identity,self-fulfillment and a sense of mean-ing and purpose to his life.

Drugs were a means of protestinga "system" that deprived people ofthese other basic needs. More than anegative protest, drugs were alsoviewed by many as a positive meansof constructing new values and life-styles to supplant the old.

For drugs did more than titillateand entertain. They could alter con-sciousness and change the waypeople thought and looked at theworld and themselves. They couldopen up new vistas of understandingand knowledge. Like the tree in themidst of Eden, drugs were "to be de-sired to make one wise."Altered Consciousness. Con-sciousness is one of those phenomenathat occurs but is not easy to define.Very simply stated, it is the totalmental configuration of a person, hisperception of reality. It is the sum to-tal of this thoughts, moods, percep-tions-all the mental processes andmodes of which he can be aware.

Whatever consciousness is, manyparents are sure they don't want it

altered. Since the words "alteredconsciousness" are commonly used inconnection with drugs, they sufferfrom guilt by association. Actually,the words are quite innocent, becausealtered consciousness is something allof us-whether we use drugs ornot-experience every day!

Sleep, drowsiness, daydreamingand meditation are all differentstates of consciousness. We shiftback and forth through these statesin the course of our daily activity. Wecan even chart some of these stateswith an electroencephalograph-aninstrument that measures brainwaves.

So altered consciousness is a com-mon everyday occurrence. In addi-tion, society condones--even encour-ages via commercials and adver-tisements-the deliberate alterationof consciousness by drugs! Peopletake barbiturates to sleep, alcohol torelax, and amphetamines or caffeine(coffee) to stay awake. Parents whodread their children using mind-al-tering drugs such as pot may be usingtwo or three mind-altering drugsthemselves-all the while wonderingwhat their kids see in drugs.

What their children see are imagesand colors unlike anything experi-enced in the usual states of con-sciousness or in the mild states of al-tered consciousness parents induceby means of over-the-counter drugsand alcohol. In these "higher" statesof consciousness, spatial relation-ships and the sense of time are dra-matically changed. Thinking be-comes nonlinear and free flowing.Sensations ebb and flow in intensity.The experience can't really be de-scribed in words, drug users say, any-more than you can verbally describesunlight to a person born blind. Aperson must see antl feel it for him-self to comprehend what it is allabout.Dreams Become Nightmares. Be-cause drugs put things into a wholenew perspective, it was deemed in theearly days of the Youthquake to bean excellent catalyst for revolution,creativity, personal growth, mysticalexperiences-whatever the druguser's intellectual bag was.

Unfortunately, drugs carry noguarantees of good trips or new reve-lations. Many people who were inex-perienced and apprehensive about

drugs had anything but ideal experi-ences. Cases of toxic psychosis, per-manent psychosis and panic reactionswere widely reported in the late60s.

And worse yet, drugs alter bodychemistry as well as consciousness.No psychoactive drug is perfectlysafe. I.{one is free of potential healthhazards. All have undesirable side ef-fects. No matter how high the experi-ence, sooner or later the drug usermust come back to earth and experi-ence the side effects and conse-quences of a particular drug. Someside effects and post-trip symptomsare mild, and long-term damage isslight or unknown. But the harderdrugs-the opiates, the barbituatesand amphetamines----can enslave theuser by the tolerance and dependencesyndrome. Certain doses and combi-nations can kill.

But the full dangers of drugs, par-ticularly the harder drugs, weren'twidely known then. Or they weren'tbelieved since the information camefrom people over 30 who were justusing nonfactual scare tactics. (That

v

was true-to a point.) Even when themounting death toll made believersout of skeptics, some continued to usethem undeterred by the dangers. Itseemed as if they had some kind ofscript that called for them to bechemical kamikazes.

The summer of love in '67 soonturned into a winter of discontentand disillusionment. A lot of chemi-cal dreams turned into nightmares.Speed killed; heroin enslaved. Barbi-turates enslaved and killed. By thehundreds they killed.The Drug lllusion. Those who tookdrugs for spiritual and philosophicalreasons largely avoided the harderdrugs and their hazards, preferringinstead softer drugs such as LSD andmarijuana. They were looking fornew ways to live-not die. But a fun-ny thing has happened over the years:Many of these seekers of truth andmeaning have dropped drugs alto-gether! Why? Because they finallypierced the great illusion of drugsand came face to face with the real-ity: they didn't need drugs to enjoylife. They didn't even need them toexplore their consciousness.

That drugs are the best or the onlyway to explore consciousness is thegreatest misconception held by manydrug users. In truth, there are manyways of altering consciousness with-oul drugs. Various esoteric disci-plines have been demonstrating howfor centuries. Biofeedback has shownpromise as a modern technique.

Many people who have tried bothdrug and nondrug methods of con-sciousness alteration prefer the latter- no hassle with unpleasant distract-ing side effects during the experienceand no post-letdowns or depressionsafterwards. They discovered theywere flying high in coach with drugs

- when all along they could havegone first-class without them.Something Better. Because of thehealth hazards, and because a lot ofidealistic users have gone on to otherthings, drugs are no longer sugar-coated with high expectations andnaiVe ideology. But millions of teen-agers are still taking them. A lot ofteenage drug use is-always hasbeen-experimental. Curiosity, andpeer pressure, entices them to try adrug once or twice. [t's part of grow-ing up-a modern rite of passage, itseems.

10

But a significant minority contin-ue to use drugs over and over for rea-sons other than because "it's thething to do." For them, drugs are achemical substitute that stands in forwhatever is missing in their lives, abuffer from whatever bothers them.Drugs provide stimulation whenthere is nothing else stimulating todo. They bring relief from the un-pleasant stimuli of life-the prob-lems and anxieties. They are a dra-matic way to kill time-and maybekill oneself if nothing else worthwhileshows up.

The philosophy, the approach tolife of many a drug abuser, issummed up in this conversation:

Interviewer: "Why do you usedrugs?"

User.'"Why not?"Interviewer: "How could someone

convince you to stop?"User.' "Show me something bet-

ter."The Carrot or the Stick? "Basical-ly, individuals do not stop usingdrugs until they discover 'somethingbetter,'" believes Dr. Allan Cohen,widely recognized expert on druguse. "The key to meeting problems ofdrug abuse is to focus on the 'some-thing better' and maximize opportu-nities for experiencing satisfyingnonchemical alternatives."

Basic Psychology l0l again: Thecarrot will bring about more effectiveand longer-lasting change than thestick. People respond more construc-tively to positive inducements and re-wards than to negative deterrentsand punishments.

For example, if a person is moti-vated to use drugs for physical satis-faction or relaxation, he may be prof-itably directed toward physical activ-ities-sports, dancing, hiking, car-pentry. If he is seeking sensory stim-ulation, he may find more satisfyingexperiences with sensory awarenesstraining, music, or developing an ap-preciation for the beauty of nature.

The alternatives model is practicalbecause it is based on the premisethat there is no one cause and henceno one sure solution for everyone. Ittailors programs to fit people, notpeople to conform to programs. It al-lows the person the freedom and op-portunity to discover and develop hisfull potential.

This approach works because it

treats the drug problem for what itreally is-a people problem. It shiftsthe focus from what drugs do to whypeople use them. As such, it is notonly effective in getting people offdrugs, but also in preventing themfrom getting started.

And prevention is the ultimate so-lution to drug abuse. But that will re-quire a radical overhaul of our way oflife.

For the drug problem is more thana threat to our way of life-it is thetragic resulr. A society that offers"something better" than drugs is asociety that will not be affiicted bydrug abuse to the extent we find to-day. The continuing high level ofdrug abuse means that a lot of youngpeople need-but don't haye-some-thing better to do.Tree of Life. Back in Eden there wasa positive alternative to the tree ofthe knowledge of good and evil. Thatwas the tree of life-symbolizingGod's revelation, guidance and in-struction. It was readily and freelyavailable. But the original parentsbelieved the original con artist ratherthan the Creator. Their childrenhave fallen for the same line; theyhave eaten the same bitter fruit eversince. Mankind got off on the wrongfoot, and each generation has perpet-uated the same errors in thinking andchoosing. The result has been a stea-dy narrowing of options for optimalliving and a proliferation and com-pounding of mistakes and problems.

It may seem ridiculous to say thattoday's drug problem-let alone allour problems--{an be traced backprogressively to that fatal choice inEden-but that is the etiology of to-day's sad state of affairs.

Someday, soon, Christ will return toset things right. Then Satan, the GreatDeceiver, will be put out of commission(Rev. 20:2-3), and Christ, ruling overand working with man, will build aworld where people matter, whereGod's way will prevail.

Even now the tree of life is avail-able to all who want a real choice inlife, a real chance to realize theirGod-ordained potential. What thatpotential is, and what you can doabout it now, ate explained in ourfree booklets Why Were You Born?and Just What Do You Mean-Con-version? Be sure to write forthem. tr

\, THE COCAINE.CRAZEr1rh. ancient Incas considered the

I plant from which it was takenr- 1s be divine. An early twen-tieth-century German user ex-claimed: "God is a substance!" And acontemporary American user said ofits effect: "You feel like Adam, andGod is blowing life into your nos-trils."

The divine drug so ardently re-vered is cocaine, one of nature's mostpowerful stimulants. Used and vener-ated by the Andean Indians for 3,000years, cocaine has acquired hundredsof thousands of modern devotees inNorth America and Europe in thelast few years. It ha's fostered a bil-lion-dollar industry in the black mar-ket of illicit drugs.Status Drug. Cocaine is often calledthe "marijuana of the rich" or the"champagne of drugs." This is be-cause the well-to-do are often theonly ones who can afford to buy itillegally at champagne prices of$1,000 to $2,000 an ounce. (Hospi-tals and pharmacies can buy the drugIegally as an anesthetic for $31.50 anounce-which gives an idea of thepossible profits on the black market.)To be able to distribute the drug gra-tis among friends at social occasionsis thought to be a sure sign of success;the chic way to flaunt one's affiuenceis to proffer the coke for inhaling (a"snort") through a tightly rolledsr00 bill.

The drug so desired among today'sdecadent rich is derived from theleaves of the coca bush, grown princi-pally in the uplands of Bolivia andPeru. For centuries the Indians of theAndean regions in South Americahave chewed the leaf for the stimu-lant and appetite-depressant effectsthat facilitate heavy labor and longtreks.

Some writers compare the con-sumption of cocaine in this form tothe Western habit of drinking coffee(which contains the stimulant drugcaffeine) to stay alert. The amount ofdrug found in both products is small(1.6 to 2.5 percent caffeine in LatinAmerican coffee; .65 to 1.25 percentcocaine in coca). Because of such low

levels of concentration, chewing thecoca leafis not considered a "danger-ous drug abuse" by many drug ex-perts, although both the Bolivian andPeruvian governments have tried tocut consumption in their countries-with little success.Freud and the Cocaine Papers. Co-caine became a problem drug after itwas isolated and concentrated fromthe leaf, a feat accomplished in 1865by the German physician Albert Nie-mann. In 1844 Sigmund Freud readabout the use ofcocaine to increase thestamina of some Bavarian soldiersduring training maneuvers. Hepromptly procured a supply of thedrug for experiments on patients andhimself. There followed a flurry of pa-pers on his use of cocaine to treat mor-phine dependence, depression and fa-tigue. Freud termed these reports a"Song of Praise"-so high was his ini-tial opinion of the drug.

But his rapturous relationship withthe drug soon soured. True, cocainedidn't build significant tolerance.(That is, it didn't require escalatingdoses with regular usage to achievethe same high as did morphine.) Andit didn't lead to excruciating with-drawal symptoms (as did morphine).But Freud, and other contemporariesworking with the drug, observed thata strong psychic dependence oftendeveloped in many users. The drug'shigh onlv lasted l5 to 20 minutes, af-ter which the user sank back into adepressed state-a state which nowseemed worse when contrasted to thefleeting drug-induced high. Thisstrongly motivated him to repeat thedose frequently to restore the eupho-ria. Repeated doses eventually led totoxic psychosis-hallucinations, pa-ranoia, etc. Prolonged snorting alsoresulted in deterioration of the mu-cuous membranes and septum.

Freud published his last defense ofthe drug in July 1887 and shortlythereafter discontinued use of thedrug personally and professionally.Though he never developed a depen-dence for cocaine, it is said he had toundergo three operations to repairthe damage to his nose.

o 1977 Ambassador CollegeAll Rights Reserued

"The Real Thing." The researchinto cocaine by Freud and others con-tributed to a small boom in the pseu-do-medical and nonmedicinal use ofthe drug at the close of the nine-teenth century. Makers of patentmedicines quickly jumped on thebandwagon and concocted scores ofpotions containing the drug. Cocainewas the "real thing" in Coca-Colauntil 1903. A wine containing cocaextract, called "Vin Mariana," washeartily drunk and endorsed by suchnotables as Pope Leo XIII, PresidentWilliam McKinley, Anatole Franceand Thomas Edison. "On a per capi-ta basis, cocaine used in America inthe mid-1890s was considerablygreater than it is today because itwas found in the cola drink, was thefirst remedy for hay fever andseemed like one of the miracledrugs," says Dr. David F. Musto, as-sociate professor of psychiatry andhistory at Yale.

But cocaine was rapidly acquiring abad name, and in 1922 the U.S. Con-gress prohibited most importation ofcoca leaves and cocaine, thus driving itunderground. The act also destroyed le-gitimate medical research on the drug.Consequently, a deficiency of knowl-edge about the drug exists to this day."The medical and scientific communityhave appallingly little information [to-day] about the effects of cocaine," la-ment Lester Grinspoon and James B.Bakalar, coauthors ofa new book on thedrug, Cocaine: A Drug and lts SocialEvolution. "The clinical literature issparse, and mostly more than 50 yearsold."

Though cocaine was rediscoveredduring the hippie rebellion of the 60s,it has been only in the past couple ofyears that a really heavy trade in thedrug has developed. Federal agentsseized only 16.4 pounds in 1964.That grew to 96.8 in 1968, 407 in1971 and 1,232 ir 1975. But theyhave been intercepting only a minutefraction of the illegal drugs cominginto the United States.Comparing Cancer to Pneumonia.True to form for today's decadentculture, what started out as a drug-

11

induced thrill has become, in somecircles, a crusade for personal free-dom.

The inevitable call has gone out todecriminalize cocaine. Proponentsargue that "it's safer than alcoholand heroin; "cocaine is as harmlessas coffee"; "we allow and promotethe use of other psychoactive agents(such as caffeine, tobacco, alcohol,tranquilizers, etc.), so why notcoke?" And so forth.

Many of the slogans and argu-ments made on cocaine's behalf aremisleading and irresponsible. Tocompare the relative merits ordemerits of various psychoactivedrugs is to obscure the central factthat no drug is perfectly safe. Alldrugs have undesirable sideeffects.

It's true that cocaine doesn't havesome of the dramatic side effectssuch drugs as, say, heroin or amphet-amines. But cocaine presents hazardsto mind and body in its own right. Tocompare it with heroin is, in thewords of one drug enforcement offi-cial, "like comparing cancer to pneu-monia."

To further exacerbate the debate,opponents of cocaine are oftenblinded by certain misconceptions-or just plain ignorance-and issuemisleading and irresponsible state-ments of their own. They seem to for-get that each culture sanctions theuse of certain psychoactive drugs.Those who decry the corrosion of thenational fiber through psychoactivedrugs often use several-usually al-cohol, tobacco and coffee-them-selves!

The current rage for cocaine mustbe placed in the context of the drugrevolution of the past decade. Andthat revolution in turn must beplaced in the context of the recrea-tional use of psychoactive drugs byalmost every culture down throughhistory.

The issues are complex and thereare no easy answers for countriesthat are wrestling with the problemof which mind-altering drugs shouldbe sanctioned and which should betaboo.

For an overall look at today's drugproblem, write to one of the ad-dresses on the back cover for yourfree copy of our booklel The Dilem-ma of Drugs. t

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ANGEL DUSTAnother Bad Trip

A boy in Detroit, Michigan, isA picked up by police. screamingL \that one of the policemen has

turned into a giant bat. A man inWashington D.C., is arrested whilesinging naked in a supermarket. ASan Francisco Bay Area man killshis mother, father and grandfather.The common denominator in thesebizarre behaviors is that each personwas under the influence of angel dustor PCP-the latest fad drug to cap-ture the fancy and consciousness ofyoung people. Called by variousnames on the street-hog, super-weed, lovely, goon, and superkools-the technical name for angel dust isphencyclidine hydrochloride (PCPfor short.) It was first developed as atranquilizer in the 1950s, but thedrug was abandoned because it led tounpredictable and violent side ef-fects. During the youth revolution ofthe 60s it made a brief appearance onthe drug scene. It is believed to havefirst been used for fun and freak-ing out at the 1967 Monterey PopFestival. But its undesirable sideeffects were too frightening; it quick-ly faded from popular use within ayeat.More Prevalent Than Pot. Aboutthree years ago it started to make acomeback, leading to a gradual rise inthe number of PCP-induced "badtrips" treated in emergency wards ofhospitals. By the beginning of 1977 itsuse was widespread enough to consti-tute a major drug problem. DuringJanuary and February ofthat year, anaverage of 80 PCP-related emergen-cies were reported each month in LosAngeles County. That compares with5 I monthly in 197 6 and I 0 a month in1975. In New York City, reported in-cidents of emergency treatment forPCP usage rose from l3 percent ofalldrug emergencies in 1973 to 32 inJuly-August of 1975, and to nearly 43percent in the last three months of1976. Similar sharp rises in its usewere soon being reported elsewhere.

Today, drug officials say that PCP isbecoming in white neighborhoodswhat heroin has been in the black ghet-tos. "It's clearly the drug of choiceamong white suburban teenagers,"says Theodore Vernier, director of theFederal Drug Enforcement Agency inDetroit. "Our undercover informationis that PCP is more prevalent thanmarijuana in some high schools," re-ports Los Angeles drug officer Mi-chael Guy. In the San Francisco BayArea, authorities attribute over a doz-en deaths last year to overdoses ofPCP. Nearly a third of San Diego's126 overdose deaths in the past yearare linked to the drug. In MontgomeryCounty, Maryland, police connectseveral killings and suicides to PCPuse. (Authorities believe many PCP-related deaths are overlooked in cor-oner's reports because they appear tobe accidents--drownings, deaths byfire, falls, etc.-involving peoplewhose judgment and coordinationhave been adversely affected by thedrug. Thus, for example, althoughonly one death in Los Angeles County,California, was officially attributed toPCP, Dr. Leon Marder, directorof theDrug Treatment Center at RanchoLos Amigos Hospital, estimates thatthe true figure was more like30).Cheap, Simple to Make. Why thepopularity of PCP? For one thing, it'scheap, especially when comparedwith other illicit drugs such as co-caine and heroin, whose prices haverisen sharply in the past year. Typi-cally, a dose of PCP can be bought onthe street for $1, a half gram forabout $10 to $12. Another factor inits favor is the ease which it can beproduced. PCP can be made locallyand quickly with simple equipmentand readily available ingredients. Lt.D.D. Williams of the Houston, Texasdrug squad says, "Unlike heroin,which comes from out of the country,it is a domestic phenomenon. It's ob-viously simple enough that a first-or

@ 1978 Ambassador CollegeAll Rights Reserued.

second-year chemistry student canmake it." Fly-by-night chemicalplants-known as "pig outfits"-havesprung up across the country. Theirprofits are enormous, according toJohn Van Diver, Western regionaldirector of the Federal Drug En-forcement Administration. He saysthat some laboratories that formerlyproduced illicit LSD and ampheta-mines have switched to PCP becausethe ingredients are easier to processwith a smaller investment. Thenthere is the factor of novelty-youngpeople looking for a new drug experi-ence, a different high. PCP has that,all right, but the price that may bepaid in terms of baneful effects onthe human mind may not be worththe "trip."Unpredictable Side Effects.Usually produced as a white powder,PCP can be sniffed, like cocaine,smoked as an additive to marijuana,oregano or parsley, chewed on mintleaves or injected. Those who havetaken PCP describe its more benigneffects as like that of very strongmarijuana. One user said it is like "acombination of taking LSD and snif-fing glue." At best, it provides a mel-low sensual or dreamy experience.Users feel the effects within two tofive minutes after smoking a smallamount, and the feeling peaks inabout 15 to 30 minutes. The highcontinues for four to six hours, butthe user does not feel normal for 24to 48 hours. Unfortunately, there isno way that one can guarantee agood trip with PCP. "The tragedy isthat most people experience angeldust as some unusual form of mari-juana and associate it with the be-nign patterns of marijuana, but it'sanything but that-it's a real terrorof a drug," says Dr. Robert L. Du-pont, director of the National Insti-tute on Drug Abuse. In truth, PCPcan have bizarre and totally unpre-dictable effects on the mind of theuser. "The extreme unpredictability

13

of behavior is one of the most fright-ening things about angel dust," saYsSteve Lerner, a psychologist at R.Stanley Burns and Associates, a SanFrancisco-based group that has beenstudying the drug for almost fouryears. In controlled experiments us-ing moderate doses, PCP has Pro-duced periods of stupor or even comalasting for hours or days. [n acutecases, according to the Drug En-forcement Administration, the drughas caused some users to be in a con-fused state of mind for uP to twoweeks, followed by a psychosis thatlasts for several weeks. The psychosisclosely resembles paranoid schizo-phrenia. These results were obtainedfrom PCP manufactured legally un-der rigid controls and purity stan-dards and administered under super-vision. How it affects the user in theuncontrolled, unsupervised condi-tions of the street was summarized ina recent article in the Journal of theAmer ican M e dic al As s ociati on: " un-predictable destructiveness," withusers, "running aimlessly, perform-ing bizarre actions, striking bystan-ders," or attempting to commit sui-cide.

"People can use terrible, terriblejudgment when they have been usingPCP," says Dr. Gerald Crary of theLos Angeles County-USC Medical

Center. "They think they can stop atrain with their finger, or they canfly. Many of them are really terri-fied, frightened, confused," he states."Some people will flip out on a low ornormal dose."

Physicians say that there is no di'rect antidote for PCP, and its toxici-ty, unlike that of other psychoactivedrugs, can last for weeks.

Because of its unpredictable ef-fects, many hard-core drug usersscorn it as a "freak drug," and somestreet dealers misrepresent the drugto be cocaine, LSD, heroin or THC,the active ingredient in marijuana, inselling it to unsuspecting users.

Recently, PCP has also been usedto "boost" cocaine and heroin thathas been diluted or "cut" to two tothree percent purity to produce high-er profits.

A youth emerging from a five-dayPCP coma in San Diego said hethought he had been buying bargain-priced cocaine. He remained in apsychotic state for a month and isstill confined to a mental hospitalwith frontal-lobe brain damage.

Although many youngsters may beunsuspecting users of the drug, whichcan be detected only by chemicalanalysis, others have acquired abravado craze for it.

"Even though they're gambling

with death, many high school kidsconsider PCP to be very macho,"says Howard D. Young of the San ^-Diego Department of Substance . ,'Abuse. "If you can handle it, then vyou're supposed to be a man."

PCP is another in a long list of PsY-choactive drugs used for fun andpleasure by a large number of youngpeople and adults since the drug rev-olution of the 1960s. A lot of druguse is-and always has been----exper-imental. It's something people domaybe once or twice out of curiosityor peer pressure.Drug Abuse Syndrome. But a sig-nificant minority of young PeoPleand adults continue to use drugs overand over. Once upon a time, drugcultists were tripping on LSD, thenfloating high on cocaine, then spacedout on marijuana. Now they arefreaking out on angel dust. The drugfads come and go, but the underlyingproblems remain the same. Drugabuse is a symptom of a society thatis failing to meet individual humanneeds. Drugs stand in for whatever ismissing in life. They are a bufferfrom problems people don't knowhow to cope with in real life. They

-provide stimulation when there is i tnothing else stimulating to do. They \ -are a dramatic way of killing time-and maybe killing oneself. tr

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