HIGHWAY TO HEROIN?

Controversial study suggests link between use of herbal products and
use of hard drugs

Local health food stores dismiss a new study that concludes teens
using herbal products are more likely to have tried hard drugs. The
study looked at 2,006 high school students in Monroe County, New York.

The study, published in the April issue of the Journal of Adolescent
Health, found that teens using "herbal or natural products" were 5.9
times more likely to have tried cocaine, 8.8 times more likely to
have tried heroin and 6.8 times more likely to have tried methamphetamines.

"That's bizarre," said Angeline Sewell, owner of Self-Heal-Herbs in
downtown Victoria. "Our whole industry is based on health. Drug abuse
is based on destruction ... People who try herbal products tend to be
self-empowered. That doesn't lead to drug use."

Like most studies of this type, researchers (headed by Susan Yussman,
a doctor and assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of
Rochester's Golisano Children's Hospital) cannot make a causal link.
Nobody is claiming that St. John's wort is a gateway drug to crystal meth.

Yet health-food store owners are sensitive to the possible negative
connotations of the results and many questioned the motive behind the study.

Sewell wondered if it was part of the "grand pharmaceutical
(industry's attempt) to say, 'Oh let's get rid of all these herbs.'"

Shaun Emery, natural living manager for Planet Organic Market in
Saanich Centre, also questioned the study.

"You are dealing with a very small control group. One group of teens
in a New York county is not a typical reference for what's really
going on in the general public. You always have to question the
source of studies like this as well."

Yussman said she came up with the idea for her study after reading a
study showing an association between food supplements and high-risk
behaviours in young military recruits.

The link she found could be because "children who are open to
experimenting with herbal products may be more open to trying illicit
drugs," Yussman said.

The study suggests that health-care providers must probe deeply into
the supplement and herb use of teens as well as their potential use
of illegal drugs, she concluded.

The survey asked teens if they had tried "herbal or other natural
products to make you feel better, or to help you perform better at
sports or school," which could cover anything from performance
enhancers such as creatine to chewable vitamins.

Further studies might narrow the drug use link to specific types of
herbal products, such as sports enhancers, Yussman said.

Sewell offers her own possible explanation: perhaps teens feeling
sick from drugs turn to natural remedies to feel better.

The theory of adventuresome teens makes a certain amount of sense to
Carmine Sparanese, manager of Lifestyles Market.

"Kids are just trying anything at that age," he said.

Like other store managers, Sparanese said he doesn't notice a lot of
teens in his store.

Five or six years ago, there was a trend among kids taking creatine
for sports, followed by a scare about health effects. Then after
massive number of studies, creatine turned out to be perfectly safe, he said.

That trend seems to be over. These days Sparanese says he sees teens
coming in with their parents, looking to supplement their diets with
essential fatty acids and protein supplements.

"We're not seeing teens looking for a quick fix," he said.

Emery said parents come into Planet Organic with their teens looking
for drug alternatives to acne and depression, while other teens seek
athletic performance enhancement.

"When teens come in looking for these products, they also want to
know how to use them," he said, noting that there is often a parent
accompanying the teen.

"The first thing we do is educate them that these are supplements for
a reason. Proper nutrition, along with training, are the only way to
see true lasting results."

Emery said he started using vitamins since he was 13, while he was in
competitive martial arts.

"While I do use sports supplements like creatine, I have never used
any drugs or steroids," he said.