OCR Text |
Show F'oge Fowi THE SALT LAKE TIMES FRIDAY, OCTOBER 4, 1974 THE SALT LAKE TIMES Combined with The Salt Lain Mining & Legal Saws Published Every Friday as Salt Lake City, Utah Second Class Postage paid at Salt Lake City, 71 1 Si null West Temple Salt Lake Gty, Icih Tclcpltfoc Utah 3M-MA- 64101 GLENN BJORNN, Publishes controlled "This publhation is not owned or by any party, clan, clique, faction or corporation . Number 26 Volume 54 Marijuana Research (Continued from page one) over a long period of time. The main psychoactive ingredient in cannabis is tetrahydrocannabinol. Julius Axelrod of the National Institute of Mental Health, llethesda, Maryland, has shown that only minute concentrations of the drug are present in rats brains after one dose. With frequent doses there is a gradual buildup of the drug in the brain. IIow long it persists is not clearly understood, but Axelrod has found tetrahydrocannabinol as long as eight days after one dose was given. Many scientists believe that the continued presence of tetrahydrocannabinol in the brain can induce a set of mental characteristics called amotivational syndrome. This syndrome was best described by Harold Kolansky and William T. Moore of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. They researched 13 people between the ages og 20 and 40, who had smoked cannabis three to ten times a week for at least 10 months. All showed symp-tom- e of apathy, sluggishness, difficulty with recent memory, and mental confusion. On the other hand, researchers such as Sidnev Cohen of the University of California Medical Center at Los Angeles, found that tolerance to cannabis developed quickly. He did not observe a loss of motivation or of mental function. Leo Hollister of the Veterans Administration Research Hospital in Palo Alto, California, examined the effects of single cannabis doses. He found that cannabis users were more forgetful than when sober, but that there effect. was no apparent long-terIt is likely that the link between heavy use of marijuana and possible brain damage will remain a controversial issue. However, Maugh concludes that there is enough evidence to dictate caution and concern. Your Child's Sight How You Can Help fact that your child doesnt complain about his eyesight may be lulling you into a false sense of security. Because, there is a possibility that his vision isnt as good as you may think it is. Yet, quite likely your child will never say anything. Since he may well have been seeing the same way all his life, even if its blurred, double, or through only one eye, without any point of comparison, he has no way of knwing it could be any different. He may be giving you some pointed clues, however, to the fact that his vision is abnormal. Excessive rubbing of the eyes, shutting or covering one eye, difficulty with close work, frequent blinking, squintin or frowning, undue sensitivity to light, inflamed or watery eyes, recurring styes and itching and burning of the eyes are all signs of eye problems, and indicate the need for a professional eye examination. Reacting to such signs, however, is at best a chancy way of protecting your childs vision. The best defense against the development of serious vision problems and even unnecessary loss of sight, according to the Utah Society for the Prevention of Blindness, is to have a childs eyes examined shortly after birth, and again by the age of four. And since a childs eyes grow and change, yearly eye examinations are recommended thereafter to make sure that both eyes are maintaining good The vision. Eye problems affect one in every 20 children between ages three and five and one in every four among the school-ag- e population. Such statistics reinforce the need for parents to play a more active role in protecting their childs sight. Eye disorders, if they remain undiscovered, can harmfully affect a child's personality, his learning ability, and his entire adjustment in school. Awareness of some of the common causes of eye disorders will not only help a parent to guard against them, but will underline the need for early attention to reduction prevent possible permanent visMarijuana may produce a mild, short-terdamage. of blood flow in the head and upper extremeties, report ualAmblyopia, or lazy eye, is who cardiovascular have studied three researchers and the condition that eye authorities behavioral effects of the drug. They suspect the blood of arc most concerned about because if it is not discovered and an intoxicated person may lie pooling in the liver, kidney, treated before the age of six or frelower which and extremeties. it the seven, leads to permausually gut, might explain nent reduction of in the quently reported symptoms of hunger, fatigue, ahd desired affected eye. It is vision often caused inactivity associated with the pot high. when one eye turns in or out Drs. Arthur L. Schueneman, Lyle II. Miller, and while the other sees straight, so that a double image is sent Ernest Daigneault reported their findings last month at to brain. The child solves the 82nd Annual Convehtion of the American Psychologi- thistheconfusion by ignoring the cal Association in New Orleans. message from one eye, thus m Marijuana "High" m Twenty subjects wired to instruments monitoring their heart rates and pulse each smoked both active and placebo (contaihing no TIIC, the active ingredient) marijuana cigarettes. When smoking the active pot, the subjects showed significant decreases in pulse readings in their heads and fingers, indicating a constriction of blood vessels in these areas. The changes did not appear when placebo marijuana was smoked. Scheueneinan is at LLovola University at Chicago. Miller at Temple University Medical School, and Daigneault at Louisiana State University Medical Center. oOo There were 834,044 physicans in the United States at the end of 1970 a gain of 9,102 over 1909 reports the Center for Health Services Research and Development of the American Medical Association. gradually weakening it through disuse. The usual treatment is matching the good eye in order to force the use of the weaker one. Sometimes this is combined with glasses, surgery r eye ex- ercises. A related eye problem is strabismus or squint, when the eyes are not straight or properly aligned, but turn in (crossed eyes) or out (wall eyes) up or down. Strabismus may be due to birth injuries, heredity, faulty muscle attachments, excessive farsightedness, or certain illnesses. It cannot be outgrown, nor will it improve by itself. Treatment, directed toward straightening the eyes, can involve glasses, patching, eye drops, surgery and eye exercises, singly or in combination. Parents should be aware, too, that conditions such as myopia hyperopia, (nearsightedness), (farsightedness) and astigmatism can also cause psychological and physical damage if not detected and treated at an early ihe--L EASED GRAPEVINl Deputy Attorney General Rob- ert Hansen says that more than 20,000 Utahns have claimed a portion of a $1 million antitrust setlement being paid by five major drug companies. The five companies overcharged for antibiotics they sold between 1954 and 1966. The firms include Upjohn, Bristol Myers, Pfizer, American Cyanamid and Olin Mathieson Chemical Company. Utah Power and Light Co. Crews this week began turning on the lights at most interchanges on interstate highways in Salt Lake County. The lights were turned off last winter because of the energy crisis. A spokesman for the Utah Department of Highways said the lights are being turned on for the publics convenience and not for a safety reason, since studies indicate that turning the lights off did not result in an increase in age. To encourage early attention to the eyes, a Home Eye Test for Preschoolers is offered free by the Utah Society so that parents can test their children at ohme. Available in English or accidents. Spanish, it consists of an eye chart, instructions on performing the test and judging results, and a report form which the Society uses for follow-u-p and evaluation studies. Another valuable aid for parents are the vision screening programs which help to identify some of the children in need of eye care. These are not equivalent to an eye examination, but they do test visual acuity, or the clearness with which one sees at a distance. Such programs are conducted throughout volthe year by Society-traine- d unteers. Any interested group can arrange such a screening by contacting the Society for training or information. The Society also offers, free of charge, several informative publications on childrens eye care: Home Eye Test for Pre- Salt LLake Citys water year, which began Oct. 1, 1973, and ended with Oct. 1, 1974, totaled 15.64 inches just a litle above the yearly average of 15.17 inches. However, the abovenormal rainfall is a little deceiving since most of the precipitation occurred in the first seven months of the water year. Several weeks ago Governor Calvin L. Rampton threatened to take overtime out of some su- pervisors paychecks, but this week a request for 192 hours of overtime paid at time and one-ha- lf went through the Board of Examiners without opposition. The governor, Secretary of State Clyde L. Miller and Attorney General Vernon Romney on the Board of Examiners said that the Trouschoolers, approval for overtime was for Signs of Eye ble in Children, Make Sure the Department of Finance EmYour Child Has Two Good ploye Group Insurance Division. Eyes, and Crossed Eyes: A Needless Handicap. A catalogue Murray City officials will borrow some $60,000 in tax anticifilms on and listing publications all aspects of eye health and pation funds to run the city lisafety is also available. Write: brary system until tax revenues Utah Society for the Prevention come into city coffers later this of Blindness, 2033 S. State, Bldg. year. Officials said four bids 4, Salt LLake City, Utah were submitted. City commissioners and the mayor accepted 84115, the offer by Commercial SecuThe risk of prematurity is rity Bank to loan the money at high among babies if mothers 4.62 percent. get little or no prenatal care. The March of Dimes urges every Governor Calvin L. Rampton pregnant woman to seek prompt doesnt believe Congress intendmedical attention. ed to give the federal government almost unlimited control over the economic development of any city or state by passing he Clean Air Act. As a result he has asked the Utah Attorney Generals Office to determine if there have been any court cases on the proposed regulations of the Environmental Protection Agency concerning construction of hotels, motels and parking lets. The governor asked the Attorney General to determine if the application of regulations Where under the act is reasonable and within the scope of the federal of power. enjoy dial thousands listeners concert music and news every day! The orange coloring in the prairie dogs eyes permits him to withstand the intense glare of the sun on the treeless plains he calls home. |