ILLICIT DRUGS DANGEROUS

Kathleen Parker is wrong. The only reason people use illicit drugs is to
get high.

Lester Grinspoon, Harvard's resident pro-pot psychiatrist, has been
claiming since the early 1980s that cocaine if used in moderation is not
harmful, i.e., not an abuse. He has repeated this ridiculous notion
numerous times over the years in medical journals, but unfortunately this
malarkey is still often quoted and accepted by college students as license
to do cocaine.

The truth is that there is a plethora of medical scientific documentation
that even a small amount of cocaine can bring about fatal cardiac arrest up
to three days after use.

Tragically, the life of our oldest son was claimed that way in 1986 during
his senior year in college. An autopsy showed a trace of cocaine. An
extensive examination of his heart tissue, however (3,000 slides), affirmed
that cocaine was, indeed, the cause.

Illicit drugs are dangerous. The tragedies associated with illicit
substances are much greater than Parker supposes.

Sandra S. Bennett

LaCenter, WA