TOP HEALTH OFFICIAL REGRETS STATEMENTS ON PAST USE OF LSD

Director-General Taipale Apologises At Press Conference

Vappu Taipale, the Director-General of STAKES, the National Research
and Development Centre for Welfare and Health, says that she "deeply
regrets" press statements that she made last week concerning her
experiments with the hallucinogenic drug LSD as a student.

Taipale issued a statement and held a press conference on the issue
on Monday. At her press conference Taipale said that she wanted to
express remorse and apologise to everyone who had been hurt by what
she had said and whose work she had made more difficult. Taipale said
that in recent days she had been contacted by many people working in
connection with the drug problem.

She said that the contacts, and the controversy, show that Finns are
concerned with the drug issue. "Never, under any circumstances, will
I recommend that anyone use intoxicants", she said.

The controversy arose from an interview with the late-edition tabloid
newspaper Ilta Sanomat last week, in which Taipale had spoken of her
experiments with LSD in a positive tone. She had taken the
hallucinogen as a medical student in the 1960s at a time when LSD was
not an illegal drug, but was being used experimentally in the
treatment of mental illness. Ilta Sanomat had gotten the idea for the
interview from an earlier interview in the Helsinki student newspaper
Ylioppilaslehti which appeared in late April. In that interview
Taipale had spoken about her student days. She was asked if she ever
felt that she was partying too much as a student. On the question of
intoxicants, she said "I did become acquainted with wines, beer, and
even LSD." At the press conference Taipale characterised her remarks
as careless and stupid.

She also said that she could not defend them. "I certainly should
have anticipated it", Taipale said when asked if she knew what kind
of controversy would arise from her statements.

A number of Finnish Members of Parliament submitted three written
questions to Finland's Minister of Social Services Osmo Soininvaara
(Green) asking about Taipale's status after the statements. Already
on Friday Soininvaara said that the questions amounted to a "lynching
mentality". "I will answer that this is no reason to remove anyone",
Soininvaara said to Helsingin Sanomat. Soininvaara had discussed the
issue with Taipale the day before.

At Monday's press conference Taipale said that she hoped that "there
would be use for her services in spite of the blunder". Responding to
a journalist's question, she would not say directly which problem is
worse in Finland, drugs or alcohol. "Alcohol is a much more extensive
problem.

It has totally saturated our society. The drug problem is new, and
people don't know it very well. Therefore it is more difficult", she
said.