Smoke Signals -January s 1990 . Page 9
HEALTH INFORMATION
"COCAINE LIES"
After nearly a decade of being America's glamour
drug, researchers are starting to uncover the truth about
cocaine.
It's emergency as a very dangerous substance.
No one thinks the things described here will ever
happen to them. But you can never be certain. When
ever and however you use cocaine, you're playing
Russian roulette.
You Can't Get Addicted To Cocaine:
Cocaine was once thought to be non-addictive, because
users don't have the severe physical symptoms of heroin
- delirium, muscle-cramps, and colvulsions.
However, cocaine is intensely addicting psychologically.
In animal studies, monkeys with unlimited access to
cocaine self-administer until they die. One monkey
pressed a bar 12,800 times to obtain a single dose of
cocaine. Rhesus monkeys won't smoke toabacco or
marijuana, but 100 will smoke cocaine, preferring it to
sex and to food-even when starving.
Like monkeys, like man.
If you take cocaine, you run a 10 chance of addiction.
The risk is higher the younger you are, and may be as
high as 50 for those who smoke cocaine. (Some crack
users say they felt addicted from the first time they
smoked.)
When you're addicted, all you think about is getting
and using cocaine. Family, friends, job, home, posses
sion, and health become unimportant.
Because cocaine is expensive, you end up doing what
all addicts do. You steal, cheat, lie, deal, sell anything
and everything, including yourself. All the while you Tisk
imprisonment. Because, never forget, cocaine is illegal.
There's no way to tell who'll become addicted. But one
thing is certain.
No one who is an addict, set out to become one.
C'mon, just once can 't hurt you:
Cocaine hits your heart before it hits you head. Your
pulse rate rockets and your blood pressure soars. Even
if you're only 15, you become a prime candidate for a
heart attack, a stroke, or an epileptic-type fit.
In the brain, cocaine mainly affects a primitive part
where the emotions are seated. Unfortunately, this part
of the brian also controls your heart and lungs.
A big hit or a cumulative overdose may interrupt the
electrical signal to your heart and lungs. They simply
stop. That's how basketball player Len Bias died.
If you're unlucky the first time you do coke, your body
will lack a chemical that breaks down the drug. In which
case, you'll be a first time O.D.. Two lines will kill you.
Sex With Coke Is Amazing:
Cocaine's powers as a sexual stimulant have never been
proved or disproved. However, the evidence seems to
suggest that the drug's reputation alone serves to
heighten sexual feelings. (The same thing happens in
Africa, where natives swear by powdered rhinoceros
horn as an aphrodisiac.)
What is certain is that continued use of cocaine leads
to impotence and finally complete loss of interest in sex.
It'll Make You Feel Great:
Cocaine makes you feel like a new man, the joke goes.
The only trouble is, the first thing the new man wants is
more cocaine.
It's true. After the high wears off, you may feel a little
anxious, irritable, or depressed. You've got the coke
blues. But fortunately, they're easy to fix, with a few
more lines or another hit on the pipe.
Of course, sooner or later you have to stop. Then-for
days at a time-you may feel lethargic, depressed, even
suicidal.
Says Dr. Arnold Washton, one of the country's leading
cocaine experts: "It's impossible for the nonuser to
imagine the deep, vicious depression that a cocaine
addict suffers from." '
- Courtesy of the Partnership for a Drug-Free America
"WHITE BUFFALO OPENS
DOORS TO WANDERING
INDIAN YOUTH"
Runaway and homeless youth are a real part of our
society, and Indian youth are no exception. "These kids
are essentially urban, traveling up and down the coast
from Oakland to Seattle," began Glenda Durham
(Cherokee), director of the White Buffalo Project, an
outreach and drop-in center for Indian youth living on
the streets. "They are migrating from the Puget Sound
Tribes as far south as Portland, from reservations to
Portland to find relatives, passing through or coming
into circumstances where they are hoping to find a bed
for themselves."
Unfortunately, this is a population that is seldom seen
by the public. And at a time when AIDS is reaching
desperate levels in the teen population, this "is a
dangerous time to be on the streets." Like other teens,
Glenda continued, Indian teens often resort to commer
cial sex to support themselves and are vulnerable to inju
ries and dicseases of all kinds.
Hence, the Public Health Service funding for such a
project. The White Buffalo Project, located at the
Portland IHS clinic, 8532 SE 17th, is scheduled to open
in mid-December, complete with official housewarming.
The project will offer Indian kids repsite from the
streets for a few hours. Clean clothes and a good meal
will be offered, coupled with the opportunity for medical
care through the IHS clinic, and a chance to address
some of their needs through community resources, and
culturally oriented programs. Portland's Indian Community-Bow
and Arrow, People's Circle, ANPO,
churches, NARA-is expected to join with other commu
nity resources-United Way, the Portland school system,
and Children's Services Division (CSD)--to expand the
circle of services for these youth.
In the evenings, the drop-in center will be designed for
community use. Training for parents, preparing for the
drug-free years, CSD certification classes for Indian
foster parents are among classes to be offered.
The project will publish a state-wide resource directory
on how to deal with runaway Indian youth. A Umatilla
nursing student from Oregon Health Sciences commu
nity health nursing program is already working to
identify resources for the development of an "integrated
methodology" to work with homeless and runaway
Indian youth. And the youth themselves will have much
to teach. "We want to bring them in and learn from
them," Glenda concluded. For more information,
contact Glenda Durham at 236-0026.
- Courtesy of the Portland American Indian
Community
"12-STEP STUDY GROUP"
This is an open meeting for everyone to attend. This
study is not only for people with Alcohol or Drug
Problems, but also for those people who may work or
live with people who do. We intend to offer an indepth
study of the 12 steps of A A., how the relate to our lives
and how they are utilized in the recovery process. This
study will be very relevant to the person who is ACOA
COA.
Alcoholism is a disease that affects the entire family,
consequently the entire family will benefit from this
study.
This 12 step study group will be cofacilitated by Monte
Ring and Linda Olsen. Monte as a certified Chemical
Dependency Specialist, RehabilitationAftercare
Specialist and directs the Grand Ronde Alcohol Pro
gram. Linda is a certified AlcoholDrug Counselor and
works as the family counselor for the Grand Ronde
Tribe.
Linda and Monte extend there warmest invitation for
you to come and join them in there fight against the
ravages of alcohol and drug abuse.
Date: Wednesday, Jan. 10th.
Time: 7-9 p.m.
Place: Depot Conference Room
"MARIJUANA USE CAN
IMPAIR DRIVING
While most people are reasonably aware of the
dangers of drinking and driving, the dangers of combin
ing marijuana and driving are neither as widely nor as
clearly perceived. This is due primarily to the fact that
alcohol is the more widely used of the two drugs.
Hence, it has also received more scientific scrutiny than
marijuana.
Nonetheless, the small but convincing body of scientific
research on the subject indicates a serious danger from
mixing marijuana and driving, according to the National
Safety Council for Drug Education.
In several "tracking" studies, which require a subject to
follow a moving stimulus, social doses of marijuana have
significantly impaired subjects' performances up to ten
hours after the drug's consumption. In driving simulator
tests, marijuana use has resulted in overwhelmingly
negative performance from subjects.
Actual driving tests have shown significant impairments
in drivers under the influence of marijuana. While
students in the '70s found deficiencies in only those
subjects who had taken higher (but still equivalent to
social use levels) dosages of marijuana, a recent (1983)
study at the University of Pittsburgh showed impaired
performance even at low dosages of marijuana.
Importantly, all experiments have shown the highest
degrees of impaired driver performance among subjects
given a combination of alcohol and marijuana. Both
drugs combined are more dangerous than either alone,
and, unfortunately, many marijuana users take the drug
in combination with alcohol.
While marijuana has been proven to impair driving
performance, establishing the drug as an actual con
tributor to highway crashes is more difficult than for
alcohol. This is primarily due to its chemical composi
tion. Alcohol levels remain stable and decline slowly,
while THC (the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana) is
rapidly converted by the body into other substances soon
after ingestion.
- Courtesy of Spilyay Tymoo