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Show Marijuana legalization? 'Hedonistic nonsense' By Philip M. Howard, Jr. Staff Writer Anthropologist Margaret Mead's recommendation that niumbe legalized for 16-year-olds is "hedonistic nonsense, a University pediatrics professor has charged. "I accuse Dr. Mead of rank irresponsibility, said Dr. Alan K. Done who is also founder of the University Hospital's Poison . Information ind Therapy Center. He spoke at the Utah Institute of Drug Problems at Lincoln Junior High School, 1241 S. State, Thursday. He said Dr. Mead "ignored the facts, and this is inexcusable by one considered to be an expert and who has the stamp of expertise placed upon her remarks." ., . "I will hold her responsible for what happens to young people. What she said will be used by drug proponents for the next 20 years, Dr. Done said. , , , . . . u j Her claim that marijuana is no worse than alcohol is not true, he said. "Do we want to add to our problem with alcohol still another intoxicant? Dr Done, speaking to a capacity audience about stimulants and inhalants, said overdoses from drugs or drug-related accidents are now the commonest cause of death between the teens and middle age, even exceeding automobile deaths. The main offender in amphetamines use is the housewife, Done said. She obtains them legitimately, usually as diet pills, then uses them indiscriminantly, and finally "she has forgotten she started taking them to lose weight," he said. This parental pill-popping "imbues" children with the idea that pills are the way to go, that there's a pill to answer any problem, including pregnancy prevention and getting up in the morning," he said. Done said in the United States, eight billion doses of amphetamines are legitimately produced each year, yet half of these find their way into illicit channels. Done warned that the glue sniffers' cure rate is "real low, it's just as difficult to get a cure with a chronic glue sniffer as a heroin addict." He noted the average age for an amphetamine user is 24, but the solvent sniffer averages 13 years old. He said he knew of one hard-core solvent sniffer nine years old. He told parents it is "incorrect" to tell children Toluene ( the most popular inhalent) "produces liver damage," and will make them die of kidney disease or scramble their brains. Children know this hasn't been proven. It is important to be factual, to tell children the truth," he said. Done suggested the United States adopt Sweden's policy toward amphetamines. That is, drugs cannot now be obtained even with a prescription except treatment of a rare disease, "narcolepsy," an uncontrollable desire to,sleep. "You can practice medicine perfectly well without therr (amphetamines)," Done said. |