From: ray@cs.rochester.edu (Ray Frank)
Newsgroups: alt.radio.scanner
Subject: Re: To tattle, or not to tattle
Date: 18 Nov 92 13:42:52 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: Computer Science Department University of Rochester

In article <1992Nov15.102207.12572@hpcvaac.cv.hp.com> billn@hpcvaac.cv.hp.com (bill nelson) writes:
>ray@cs.rochester.edu (Ray Frank) writes:
>: 
>: It is not uncommon for the pro-drug/pro-legalization gang to compare 
>: drug use to every other common human activity, ie; "Hey, using drugs is
>: dangerous, but so is walking down the sidewalk, you could get hit by
>: falling pianos, or hey, using drugs is dangerous, but so are sharp
>: pencils because you could accidently stab yourself or someone else.
>: It's like telling someone that his habit of driving at 120 MPH is dangerous
>: and he tells you of the dangers of walking down side walks and pointy pencils.
>: Such rationales staggers the mind.
>
>Why should it be uncommon - it is a valid comparison. If a person abuses
>drugs and, in doing so, endangers others or drives recklessly - the result
>is the same. The point is, using drugs is not dangerous - as I have pointed
>out to you a number of times. If it was, we would have millions of people

You may have pointed it out to me but you haven't proven anything to me.
All I've heard from you is talk and nothing to back up your claims, no
statistics, no results of studies.  Sure, you did quote a 15 second sound
bite from CNN that claimed there was no such thing as crack babies.
I would not suggest that anyone wrap their life or their unborn child's
welfare around a 15 second sound bite from a media that is known for
it failure to accurately report the news or to accurately report
complex issues.  These people are only journalists who read cue cards
which are merely condensed and sometimes rediculous versions of the
turth.  They in no way resemble medical mental giants.

And what a blanked statement, ie; "drugs are not dangerous".  I suppose
you include all the currently used illegal street drugs in this
statement.  Folks, how would you like this guy to be your kids teacher
and tell them that NO drugs are dangerous to use???

>dying from drug usage every year. It is the abuse of drugs that is the
>danger- that, and accidental overdose from inconsistent strengths as well
>as poisoning from impurities/adulterants.

>Bill

Thousands DO die every year from drugs.  And many more are injured, some
permanently.  And these are not just from OD's, they are because some of
these drugs are just plain lethal to the body's system.  Coke raises the
blood pressure to dangerous levels resulting in strokes and heart attacks.
I have a picture of a damaged heart from a coke user.  There is a violent
tear down the side of the heart muscle which resulted in the instanteous
death of the owner of said heart.
Coke is also known to cause arteries to spasm shutting off the blood supply
to parts of the body, if it is the heart then you have a heart attack.
Coke and crack are also extremely psychologically addictive, much more so
than most other drugs.
If people did these drugs as often as they indulged in tobacco and alcohol
products then you would surely see a dramatic rise in deaths and injury.
Can you imagine the results if a person did coke and crack every 20 or 30 
minutes all day long as people currently do with tobacco?  And if the numbers 
who did this were 60 million people, the current number of tobacco addicts.
We would then see just how dangerous some of these drugs are.  

I would suggest that rather than take Bill's word or any other pro-legalization
advocate's word that people call up drug centers and find out for themselves
what is already well known and well established concerning the dangers of
drug use.  You may also want to find out about crack and coke babies.  You
will be told that babies are born addicted and that some babies have
mal-formed kidneys and that some babies have heart attacks and strokes 
either before they are born or afterwards.  These are not tobacco babies
as Bill would have us believe but are the result of mothers using coke
and crack during pregnancy.  If such things occured from smoking then
we would see untold numbers of such cases since so many mothers smoke.
I'm not saying that tobacco doesn't harm the fetus, I would not make such
wild claims as Bill and others do.  Tobacco harms the fetus just as it
harms the users.  But what they are seeing is something different than
just the resut of mothers smoking during pregnancy.  They are seeing
the result of coke and crack use during pregnancy and these are called
crack babies.

ray
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