THE MOST DANGEROUS DRUG
For several years (I am thirty-one), it has been my custom to have five or six drinks before dinner and two or three after. This drinking does not in any way interfere with my life and I find it enjoyable.
However, I am somewhat concerned about the possibilities of long-term physiological damage. Is it known, for example, that consumption of alcohol at such a rate will cause cirrhosis of the liver, or does this occur only with malnutrition?
And also, is cirrhosis of the liver a "threshold phenomenon," i.e., is it caused only by consumption of more than a certain amount of alcohol per unit time, or does all the alcohol ingested cause some liver damage?
Current medical research indicates that cirrhosis of the liver (due to alcoholism) is caused not by malnutrition but ingestion of more alcohol than the liver can metabolize per unit time.
Alcohol is an example of a drug so widely used most people don't think of it as a drug. In moderation, the drug has beneficial tranquilizing effects. With larger doses, there is depression and slowing of reflexes. The "stimulation" due to alcohol is actually caused by release of inhibitions.
The greatest drug problem faced by the United States today is due to alcohol. Forty per cent of all first time admissions to state hospitals are due to alcoholism. And about half of all murders and fatal traffic accidents occur under the influence of alcohol.
Addiction to the drug is common. When an alcoholic's supply is cut off, delirium tremens (DT's) may occur, with death a not uncommon result.
Most authorities would consider you an alcoholic. Cut down on your consumption while you can.
Heroin
While camping near Big Sur recently, I met a young couple from Los Angeles. They had read my column in the LA. Free Press and during the course of our conversation, the girl told me they had used "smack" or heroin several times in the past few weeks. When I asked whether they weren't afraid of becoming addicted she replied, "Oh no, smack isn't as addicting as people say. We can take it or leave it."
Narcotics are drugs which relieve pain and produce sleep or stupor. Heroin is one of the most potent narcotics and is used for medical reasons legally in some countries, notably Great Britain. But its use is prohibited in the U.S.A. because the potential for addiction is greater than for narcotics like morphine. Since the drug is illegal, all heroin in the U.S.A. is, almost by definition, impure and often contaminated with fungi and bacteria.
Addiction to heroin does not result from its occasional use. Three or four weeks of daily or almost daily use is usually required before the user is hooked. The first time heroin is injected into a vein, the user will most likely be nauseated, feel faint and, in general, wonder why he's not getting any "high" from the drug. With further use, he'll experience pleasurable sensations which have been described as an orgasm spreading all through the body. But frequent use of heroin results in tolerance, or the need to take increasingly larger amounts of the drug in order to produce the same effects.
Typically, the heroin user does not become addicted until after several months of sporadic use. But as the frequency of its use increases, there comes a time when he can no longer distinguish between the pleasure he desires from the drug and the physiological need which marks addiction. Once tolerance is developed, the heroin user will suffer from a classic set of withdrawal symptoms if he attempts to discontinue the drug.
Withdrawal Symptoms
If a narcotic addict stops taking his drug, no signs will be apparent for about half a day. Then he'll become restless, nervous, and, at the same time, sleepy. Later, he'll perspire, his eyes will tear, and he'll have a runny nose. As time passes he becomes more and more restless, tossing and turning and twitching his arms and legs. He feels alternately warm and chilled. The pupils of his eyes are dilated, waves of gooseflesh travel over his body and he has painful muscle cramps. Vomiting and diarrhea are common. The acute withdrawal symptoms last three to five days but for weeks or months afterward he may suffer from anxiety and insomnia.
Shortened Life
The life expectancy of a heroin addict is much shorter than for the average person of his age group. One estimate is five years from the time he becomes hooked.
A heroin user can die or become seriously ill in several ways. The fastest is from an overdose of the drug; the same quantity needed to maintain an addict may be fatal when injected by a novice. Bad or grossly impure heroin is another quick way to die.
The most common serious disease of those using needles illegally is serum hepatitis. Boiling the needles will not necessarily kill the causative virus, but hepatitis, a disease of the liver, can surely kill a needle head. Other common maladies are abscesses and thrombophlebitis. The stigmata of the addict are "tracks" or line-like scars over his veins.
Medical Treatment?
Most heroin addicts seeking medical treatment wish to cut down the use of the drug simply because they can't afford the habit any longer (the cost of heroin may run as high as seventy-five dollars a day as tolerance increases). After their savings are gone, they may start selling their possessions. Many addicts turn to petty or major theft, or to prostitution. But violent acts of crime committed by addicts are rare because generally they are passive individuals, hung-up as much on the needle as on the drug. Many psychiatrists believe the act of pushing a needle into a vein has direct sexual significance.
More and more physicians are beginning to wonder why the user of heroin is treated as a criminal, subject to long terms in prison or prison hospitals. Physicians are forbidden by law to treat narcotic addicts as outpatients. If they are treated as inpatients, the hospital must report the case to the police.
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General Health
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