 |
|||||
|
| Cocaine Use And Cardiovascular Complications | |
|
Northwest Center For Health & Safety - November 7, 2002 by Sandra S. Bennett, Director www.drugandhealthinfo.org |
|
|
Lester Grinspoon, MD, a psychiatrist and associate professor at Harvard, is frequently used as an "expert" in support of "medicalization of marijuana." He has publicly attested to his personal use of illicit drugs and on several occasions has published statements in leading medical journals that cocaine is neither harmful nor addictive if used in "moderation." He has suggested that "moderation" means no more than two or three times a week but does not specify whether that is one line or ten lines of cocaine, nor is the potency mentioned. One medical writer indicated that Grinspoon's assertions regarding cocaine contributed significantly to the rise in cocaine use in the U.S. The September 2, 2002 issue of the Medical Journal of Australia carries, in its Clinical Update Section, an article entitled "Cocaine use and cardiovascular complications." A boxed abstract of the article states: "Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is the most commonly reported cardiac consequence of cocaine misuse, usually occurring in men who are young, fit and healthy and who have minimal, if any, risk factors for cardiovascular disease." "Cocaine effect should be seriously considered in any young patient with minimal risk factors for cardiac disease presenting with AMI, dilated cardiomyopathy, myocarditis or cardiac arrhythmias." This reference succinctly and tragically described the death of our oldest son who died of cocaine-related cardiac arrest during his senior year at the University of Oregon. He was a happy, handsome, intelligent, fun-loving, athletic young man in excellent health, who didn't smoke and rarely used alcohol. The loss of this wonderful young man profoundly wounded everyone who knew him. An autopsy revealed only a "trace" of cocaine in his urine, certainly an amount Grinspoon would consider "moderate." Numerous scientific studies have found that even a small amount of cocaine can lead to cardiac complications for up to several days after use. Grinspoon is wrong and irresponsible in his assertion that cocaine can be used safely. The Question Is: How much longer is society going to sit idly by while the Lester Grinspoons, Ethan Nadelmanns and other drug-using, drug-promoting, "drug policy reformers" promote the use and legalization of marijuana and other illicit drugs, using our colleges and universities as staging areas? Despite protestations that they would restrict drug use to adults, like tobacco and alcohol, the targeted new drug users will continue to be younger and younger children. References: An article in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry (49:2 Suppl. February, 1988) discussing reasons for the increase in cocaine use in the 1980s, stated that we seemed to have forgotten what we learned of the consequences of cocaine use in the decade of 1910. The article cited a chapter on cocaine that Dr. Lester Grinspoon wrote in the 1980 edition of the Comprehensive Textbook of Psychiatry where he penned the following: "Used no more than two or three times a week, cocaine creates no serious problems. In daily and fairly large amounts, it can produce minor psychological disturbances. Chronic cocaine abuse usually does not appear as a medical problem." In the 1985 edition of the same textbook, to the same text he simply added: "High price still restricts consumption for all but the very rich, and those involved in trafficking ... If used moderately and occasionally, cocaine creates no serious problems." These assertions have, of course, been thoroughly discredited. In fact, by 1984, the National Institute on Drug Abuse had declared cocaine the drug of greatest national concern. An article in the May 5, 1988 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine, "Cocaine and Other Stimulants," discusses the upsurge of cocaine abuse. It cites the above chapter by Dr. Grinspoon as claiming that cocaine is "a relatively safe, nonaddicting euphoriant agent." It then says that historical information on cocaine dependence were dismissed as moralistic exaggerations and that the absence of modern clinical research on cocaine addiction was misinterpreted to mean that cocaine was not addictive. In the November 10, 1989 issue of The New Federalist in an article entitled "General Staff of Drug Lobby meets in D.C." reports the following: "Other leading figures of the movement include Harvard Medical School professor Lester Grinspoon, whose infamous work, 'Marijuana Reconsidered,' launched the 1970s campaign to legalize marijuana. Grinspoon told the conference that he would like to do for cocaine what he did for marijuana and, like many of the speakers, disparaged the idea that cocaine in any form, including the deadly free-base derivative called 'crack,' represents a significant health hazard." |
 |
 |
Visit Us on Facebook
| D.A.R.E. Vehicle Donation Program |
 Click here for D.A.R.E. activities |
|
|
| BCS Recycling Specialists Asset Management Partners with D.A.R.E. |
 |
| Home | Kids | Officers| Parents & Caregivers | Webmasters | Site Index | Contact Us | |
|
© 2012
D.A.R.E. America. All Rights Reserved. D.A.R.E. and the D.A.R.E. logo are
trademarks of D.A.R.E. America. |
|
|
Read our Privacy Guidelines. |
 |