WINKING AT TEEN DRINKING CAN HAVE TRAGIC RESULTS

A young man who was featured in a recent front-page story in The Sun Herald
didn't die for lack of knowledge. He didn't die for trusting a user. He died
because he used too much methadone with too much alcohol in too short a
time.

Alcohol will do that to you, if you can get enough down to sedate the
primitive brain which regulates our vital signs. Fortunately, we usually
pass out before we can get that much alcohol into our system. But we can
override our natural defenses by 1) chugalugging or 2) potentiating the
alcohol with other downers like methadone.

The May 6 story "Overdose sends troubling message" reports that Brian Cuevas
"died from mixing methadone with alcohol... he fell asleep and never woke
up." Narcan is an opioid antagonist. It would not have reversed the effects
of alcohol.

Unfortunately, we'll likely see more kids die of too much alcohol (with or
without other drugs) as high school graduation parties swing into high gear.

Methadone and other drugs are a big problem, but the most dangerous threat
on the scene to my mind is still alcohol. I'm afraid that the present focus
on the dangers of drugs like methadone will ignore the danger inherent in
the most common and readily available of mind-altering drugs.

Almost every year, we hear about the kid at the kegger who got too much too
quick, laid down in the back sleep of a car, "went to sleep and never woke
up." Winking at the underage drinking or the use of other "recreational
drugs" is child abuse. They may not leave scars, but they can kill.

ZIP RIBAR
Long Beach