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Show Tizens A Philosophically IndependentJournal of Opinion Written by Utah's Citizens Salt Lake City, Utah Wednesday, September24, 1997 Utah’s pervasive drug cultureis largely a legitimized one Utahleadsthe nationin use of emotion-altering prescription drugs. Whatis the cause of thesefrightening figures, and moreimportantly, whatare the consequences? that alters brain. chemistry can result in severewithdrawal symptoms Doctors are busy. They generally like to process patients on a time schedule. and many prefer to deal only with these whose symptoms they can easily treat. They have been taught in medical school that psychiatry has all the answers that physical medicine doesn’t have, so when a patient has an ail By RuTH LEHENBAUR Mentnot readily diagnosed. it’s easy to label LoGan it ay stress-related. The treatment tor that is What else? an antidepressant. Many doctors simply don’t know about the draw In recent years, Utah has hadthe dubious’ distinction of being rated highest in the nation in consumption of sugar, ice cream backs of these psychoactive drugs or think that sideeffects arerare or insignificant and marshmallows. Now the newspapers Ofparticular concerniy theincreased use of prescription drugs on children. | have have announcedthat Utahhasthe frightening honor of being first in the use of mindaltering prescription drugs — six times the national averagein Prozac alone. heardstories trom around the nation about school counselors pressuring parents to per ave betterin class or relieve personal anviety mit medication to help their children be Is there a connection betweenthe rate of prescription druguse andthe high rateofille- It is too tempting to use a simplepill to gal drug use in our state? It is widely known that many prescription drugslike Prozac and solve the problem of a hyperactive child: some of these children have bad reactions Ritalinare addictive and are sometimes sold Eye heard a numberof reasons for these or endup “graduating” to street drugs. The most common offender right now is Ritalin. but other prescription drugs are moving statistics, such as, “Mormons can't use street drugs, so they take prescription others like them may be chosen as the on thestreet to those whocan’t give themup when their prescriptionsrun out. onto the school scene. Prozac, Xanex and or, “People here live with a lot of answer lo emotional problems. resulting frompeer pressure or lain ty discord these excuses implies ignorance and the No one is immune from the ray sot depression, Any lifestress can bring it on dru; anxiety fromsocial pressures.” Thefirst of second implies pride . i Utah highest in trauma, sickness, fatigue, old age. the nation in these categories as well’? Pride is somethingthis editorial can’t fix, but it can certainly work on ignorance. personality. or are committing suicide, homicide or other criminalacts in increas- keel, causingit to “back up” in the brain period, hardly enough to see long-term results. And guess who tests them? The One of Prozac’s reported side effects is unrestrained sex drive leading to promiscu- tends to shut down production. This is a recipe for trouble: An imbalance is effected andpatients may experience adverse reac- generally tested foronly afive- to six-week Some readers may not know that many street drugs cocaine, LSD,etc. — were oncetoutedas the latest medical wonders, safe for usein mindresearchorin treatment companies that make them,of course. And whosits on the FDA panel that evaluates the drugs? Oftenit is “experts” whohave an interest in the profits, but sign statements promising to be objective. of anxiety anddepression, The same pharmaceutical companies that gave us these and other destructive drugs like thalidomide, Oraflex and methadone now promote Prozac. Paxil, Zoloft and Luvox. Tracy notes that mind-altering drugs — both the legally prescribed andstreet vari- Salespeople from the pharmaceutical companies assure the doctors that these eties — can cause long-term damageto the brain's chemical processes, and the statis- drugs are both effective and safe, while the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) claiins they have been thoroughly tested. However, Ann Tracy’s book, Prozac Panacea or Pandora, states that drugs are tics are piling up: Patients using “legal” drugs are suffering with addictions,altered ing numbers ity, which can be dangerous for teens. One wonders to what extent such drugs contribute to road rage andother forms of dis- Whenserotoninpiles up, we feel good, but whenthe body senses it has enough, it tions, especially if they stop taking the drug. Adverse reactions can occur long after the allergies. drugs. Our challengeis to find ways to alle Viatethe stress without the disadvantages of dangerous sideeffects Natural remedies are coming to light as moreresearch is done: The 6 vitamin com plex (known as nature's tranquilizer). a well-balanced diet with rest. and exercise. andastrong support group especially a loving family canall work wonders. We may oneday look back onthe widespread cordin society today. Warnings aboutthese side effects may or maynotbelistedin the fact, Ironically. when doctors se the withdrawal symptoms. they may prescribe still literature accompanying aprescription. higher doses to help distressedpatients. Tostress the importance of this danger, Tracy warns that those now using antidepressants shouldnor stop taking them sud- Maybethe high useof sugary foods plays apart in the Utah phenomenon: excessive Coming downtooquickly off any substance See DRUGS on Page2 Most antidepressants work in a similar fashion and are potentially dangerous. Tracy explainsthat such drugsinterrupt the normal production cycle of serotonin, the drain chemical that keeps us on an even denly, but reduce dosages very gradually, use of antidepressants the same way we nowlook back on the misguided practice of bleeding patients Princess Diana’s death left empty space and many unanswered questions Public bears some Whydid the world weep for responsibility for Diana? She connected with us Diana’s death Thoughonlya few people actually knew her, the late Princess of Wales was mournedbymillions who empathized with her triumphsandtragedies. Toprevent paparazzi-induced tragediesin thefuture, the public needsto curbits appetitefor celebrity photographs. By FRANS J. KoHLSCHEIN After thetragic accident in Paris that took the own grief for this stranger to me. 1 heard another person comment about to put the events before andafter into perspec- how, when a neighbor died whom he tive. Somepeople are havingdifficulties trying to with, he hadfelt less sadness than when he had heard of Diana's death. He was bewildered and confused. A web author wrote: “Welooked short life to others was so abruptly takena’ order to copewith the injustice ofit, we, in typi- cal humanfashion, will immediately look for something on whichtoput the blame, something Somehave directedtheir anger towardthe English royal family; others blamed the driver and those who employed him. Most people have — with some d ofjustification — blamed the freelance photographers andthe media whopaid for the products of their labor. Asinany profession, the majority of photographers are just hardworking people with the same gifts and needs as the rest of society, But — as in any profession — there are among thempeople without conscience or scruples whowill do anything for money, Most of the people who are experiencing right to believe in the possibility of living “happily ever after.” We wanted that for her and for ourselves, Weconnected, too, when we real: ized that anyone with good sense bly have foreseen what lite would tiff and reten atist. We all understood that it wouldn't beeasy for her to find hap: piness, but she couldn't have seen had known and been acquainted that. Because of similar experiences comprehend why a person whodedic: ed her at which to vent our anger andfrustration. her, to the yearning less andnaive, and could not possi I have been dumbfounded hy my lives of the beloved Princess Diana andthose who accompanied her, many amongus are trying shy 20. could see that a 20-year-old is clue: By S. Tim CHou,JR. Saur Lake Crry SANDY world as a beautitul, old, she was every person's fairy tale and we connected if not to eousindignation aboutthe paparazzi in pa icular and the news media in general wouldnever think of carrying someof the blame themselves. The fact remainsthat without the consumersdirectly or indirectly paying their share for the written newsas well as the “newsworthy”pictures, there wouldnot be any reasonfor the photographers to chasetheir prey. Modern society has an insatiable thirst for excitement. It appears that theentertainmentof yesterday is fast becoming mundane, and we seek more unusual waystopass our ever-increasingfree time Hencethe media,in their quest to improve ratings andplease their stockholders, is becoming more and more innovative in supplying thepublic with that excitement, andare often blindedas to what is appropriate. Their goal is tobe thefirst to pleasethe public, no matter whatit takes. Inour searchfor moreexiting entertainment we havetired of regular shows or games. A well playedfootball game, for instance does not please the viewers as muchasthe oftencrippling injuries inflicted by vicious hits. Instead of replays of excellent tactics during a game,the camerafocus: es on a quarterback’s headsnapping back froman unnecessary violent hit. Viewers areless interestSee PUBLIC on Page2 weall have had in our own lives. we connected. We connected when we saw her spirit struggle to break out of the oppressive, burdensome royal yoke ly saw her. And now that we have and reach out to all people in every lost her, we realize we never really walk of life and not as a scripted had her at all.” public-relations campaign, but at her for so long, but wenever real Butit seems to methat our inex plicablegrief is felt because wedid heart-to-heart. see her, and we connected to her in able outrage on our TV screens and just didn’t realize it untl she died. Wehave been connecting to her for We connected when we saw her naked human suffering and weak nesses. She was subject to the same We ourselves have felt the rage of witnessing unbear visceral, deeply human ways. We yeamedto be able to help as long as we have knownher, and now these connections have been simultaneously broken, and wefeel emotional and mental tials as we are, and she wished to end the pain adnift, vulnerable and wounded Whenshe was introduced to the Hey webcrawlers, Citizens is finally available online! NI irs great opinion picees and illustrations Ran Cy ome to love ean now be found TS eons Click Nott 1 your favorite features ane explore RoR nan oo Bite at httpi//www.nacorp.con/citizensonline/index. htm [POORCopy |
