MARSHFIELD DOCTOR LAUNCHES DRIVE TO DETER COCAINE USE

A Marshfield Clinic cardiologist who says cocaine use is on the rise in
north central Wisconsin wants to start a program to teach people about the
drug's dangers.

Dr. Shereif Rezkalla will meet with clinic officials to discuss
implementing a cocaine prevention program aimed at school-age children next
month.

Rezkalla said it's also important to educate his patients and the public.
Saint Joseph's Hospital has seen an increase in patients who use cocaine.
Dr. Gurdon Hamilton, assistant director of alcohol and drug recovery, said
about one-fourth of the patients who are admitted have used the drug. Every
year, the department has about 500 detoxifications of chemically dependent
patients.

Nationwide, an estimated 25 million people have used cocaine at least once.

People don't understand the serious health risks, such as heart attacks,
associated with cocaine use, Rezkalla said. He has seen "disastrous cases
of drug use," he said.

"It's actually extremely dangerous - 'extremely' is the most ominous word
that I can find in the dictionary," Rezkalla said. "There is no single
patient who will not have a single side effect from it. The side effects
are from heart attacks to irregular heart beats to sudden death." Although
in the planning stages, Rezkalla wants to work with other physicians to
inform the public of the dangers of cocaine use. The program would be cost
effective, relying mostly on volunteers. He will approach the Marshfield
School District with the idea.

Cocaine is a tough habit to kick, Rezkalla said, and preventing it would
yield greater success.

Eventually, Rezkalla said he'd like to expand the program nationwide. He
has discussed it with doctors who conduct cocaine research.

"If we can get every researcher to conduct one lecture to school children,
we will reach thousands, if not millions," Rezkalla said. "We will have an
impact." The drug's physical effects are often overlooked by the users,
Rezkalla said. Earlier this month, Rezkalla and Dr. Robert Kloner, director
of research for the Heart Institute at Good Samaritan Hospital in Los
Angeles, published their findings about the dangers to the heart in The New
England Journal of Medicine.

They found that cocaine use is responsible for 25 percent of all heart
attacks in people age 45 and younger. It also dramatically weakens heart
muscles and injures the heart of anyone who uses the drug, Rezkalla said.

"If I can get you excited, then I have done my community a favor," Rezkalla
said. "This is the first step in the campaign of physicians against drugs."