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Show Physicians answer questions regarding alcohol and drug abuse Every week the AIHS Help Unit at Humana Hospital Davis North answers your questions about alcoholism and drug dependency. de-pendency. If you have a question, please write to: Dale Campbell, Camp-bell, Alcohol and Drug Help Unit, Humana Hospital-Davis North, 1600 West Antelope Drive, Layton, Utah 84041. All correspondence will be confidential. We will reply to all letters and no names will be used if we use your letter in the column. If you have a question that needs an immediate answer, you can caO the Helpline, 24-hours a day: (801)774-7070. My mother has a drinking problem, and recently was di- agnosed with breast cancer. The doctor said that women who drink a lot raise their chances of developing breast cancer. Is this true? Just three drinks per week will increase a woman's chances of developing breast cancer by 30 percent and daily drinking will increase risk to over 40 percent. Other types of cancer which are related to drinking include: cancer of the larynx or voice box, cancer of the esophagus and stomach, and lung cancer because . the vast majority of alcoholics are also addicted to nicotine, j Does marijuana smoke cause lung cancer? Marijuana cigarettes are unfiltered and contain more tar than tobacco cigarettes. They are also inhaled more deeply and the smoke is held in the lungs for a longer period of time than that of cigarettes. This exposes sensitive lung tissue to some 150 chemicals che-micals in marijuana, many of which are irritating. One study showed that people who smoked five marijuana cigarettes a week damaged their lungs more than people who smoked six packs of regular cigarettes a week. Other studies show that marijuana decreases a user's lung capacity and, like tobacco, impairs defenses against infections and foreign inhaled matter. Bronchitis and emphysema occur more frequently in people who are regular users of marijuana. Benzopyrene is a cancer-causing cancer-causing substance that is 70 percent more abundant in marijuana . smoke than in cigarette smoke. To date, however, no study has shown that marijuana actual-! ly causes cancer in humans, although a 1982 National Academy1 of Science report states that there is a strong possibility that prolonged use may do so. keep hearing that cocaine can cause people to die, what exactly does it do? Cocaine can kill in many ways. It can cause massive brain seizures that disrupt breathing and stop the lungs. The user dies of suffocation. Cocaine can disrupt the brain's electrical messages mes-sages to the heart, setting up irregular heartbeats that cannot be controlled. The user dies from cardiac arrest. Cocaine simultaneously simul-taneously increases heartbeat and constricts arteries. The overworked over-worked heart cannot get the oxygen it needs and the user dies of a heart attack. Cocaine elevates blood pressure and can burst blood vessel in the brain. The user dies from a fatal stroke. Users also can di from overdose, fatal reactions to impurities in cocaine, or from accidents under the influence of this and other drugs they've taken to alleviate the dreadful crash that follows cocaine use.' Cocaine can kill the very first time it is used or the 10th time or the 100th time. Cocaine can kill no matter how it's taken snorted, injected, or smoked. It can kill at any dose the dose that didn't hurt yesterday can be lethal tomorrow. Users risk death each time they try cocaine. Nationwide, cocaine deaths have tripled in three years. |