On 'heroin chic'

President Clinton properly used the bully pulpit
of his office to denounce the fashion industry's
use of "heroin chic" to sell clothes and other products.

He was referring to advertising that features young
anorexic models who appear druggedout in upscale
advertising known as "junkie layouts." The style
was started by a young fashion photographer who recently
suffered a heroinrelated death.

"It's not beautiful, it's ugly," Clinton said. He's right,
glorifying drug addiction and the death it brings "is
not good for any society."

Clinton could have added, however, that the number of
deaths attributed to heroin and other illegal
drugs is but a drop in the bucket compared to the
400,000 annual deaths attributed to smoking by
Americans addicted to the drug nicotine.

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