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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (May 5, 1971)
Doctors predict drug tidal wave by STEVE KADEL Staff Writer Nebraska and the rest of the Midwest are heading for a heroin epidemic in the next few years, according to Dr. Henry Bruyn, director of the University of California Health Services. Speaking Tuesday in the Nebraska Union Bruyn said: "We are facing a tidal wave of heroin and cocaine and I think these are going to move across the U.S. in ripples. We've already experienced this on both coasts." The use of mind-altering substances in the U.S. today has reached epidemic proportions, he added. Bruyn and Dr. David Smith, medical director of the Haight-Ashbury Clinic .spoke in connection with the Morton Steinhart Lectures on current community social health issues. They will present another program Wednesday at 1:45 p.m. on "Community Involvement in the Drug Abuse Problem." SMITH ALSO emphasized the danger of the heroin problem coming to the Midwest. "The drug patterns start on either coast and move inward. Here in Nebraska you're two to three years behind the San Francisco area," he said. Smith's clinic saw 12,045 heroin addicts last year, with 80 per cent coming from white, middle class backgrounds. He also told of a recent visit to Harlem where he talked to a 17-year-old black who was a third generation drug addict. "A public awareness of the drug problem has happened only since it hit the middle class," Smith said. Bruyn explained that there are basically four types of mind altering substances "alcohol.narcotics, danger drugs and hallucinogens. "LSD IS THE MOST recent and potent mind altering substance we have ever known," Bruyn said. "But there are about 6,000 different plant species that can produce hallucinations in the human mind so we really haven't scratched the surface in our experimenting." According to Bruyn, the difference between dangerous drugs and hallucinogens is that I 'A 8IBAOT, nthUPSTS TEL: 432-1465 CONTINUOUS DAILY FROM 1 PMS "FUNNY, IN A NEW AND FRIGHTENING WAY!" NEWSWEEK 4 fcHV . ft, J ftmZ V if?' JULES FEIFFER S little num. 20ih Cenkvy-Fn presents nnmr nrminttowuDsuM&wo uximcob LLUUII UUULU. ft Mm man -jwb fwfuts MCX BROOSKY , ULS FElfFER l?th A P STS TEL: 432-3126 Continuous Daily from 2 p.m. DSU2LE FEATURE What happens when a professional killer violates the code7 B021LD STJTEEE11STJ C A ALEXin o WONDERLAND O G-i" Q A MfUO COlDWVN-WAVtJf Off tr Y,r iw ' WwV- ' Nebraska ... and the rest of the midwest is headed for a heroin epidemic, according to Dr. Henry Bruyn, who spoke in the Nebraska Union Tuesday. dangerous drugs, including heroin, cause a dependence leading to addiction while hallucinogens don't create a dependency. "A hallucinogen can be taken or left alone," he explained. "There's no dependency with them, just an 'I like it, 1 want it' feeling." REGULAR USE of hallucinogens produces muscle incoordination and disturbed intellect, he said. Their most dangerous effect, however, is the bad trip which he described as "a panic reaction to things we don't want to see." Bruyn feels that the worst part of the hallucination experience is its unpredictability, the fact that you can't guarantee you'll see something pleasing. A person's reactions to frightening hallucinations often result in death, he said. Smith added that there is as much drug abuse in adult society as in the youth culture, but the older people call it something else. As an example he described the "housewife syndrome" where a woman takes diet pills day after day. "Suddenly the housework becomes exciting and she's a ball of fire when her husband comes home at night," he said. "In reality she's a speed freak, but since this is something that is only supposed to happen to Instructor proposes directory Would you be interested in finding other people on the campus with an interest or knowledge in a subject area that appeals to you? The job could be easier if you had a directory listing all the available subjects along with the names of those people who have expressed a desire to share their knowledge with others. Such an idea, an Educational Resource Directory for the entire University community, has now been proposed. The basic goal of the directory is to change the present student - faculty relationship so that information can be shared and exchanged with an emphasis on personal motivation on both sides. According to Muriel Herzog, English instructor, over one hundred student interviewers are needed to canvass faculty members concerning their interest in the program. She indicated that while the faculty is being approached now, interested students are more than welcome to submit their names for the directory to Herzog. Funding of the directory is uncertain at this time, however the campus organization Training Teachers of Teachers has been approached to help support the project. A. S.U.N. Committee for Educational Change also is interested in the plans. Faculty members will also be receiving specific information concerning interviews and the directory in general sometime this week. Further information can be obtained from Muriel Herzog in the English Department. THURSDAY at 8:30 P.O. long haired youths she ends up going to the hospital for a nervous breakdown." A PESSIMISTIC but prevailing attitude on many campuses Smith has visited is that there is no hope except in dope. This is one of the new roads to heroin, he said. Following the discussion by the two doctors a film interview of several heroin users was shown. Near the end one sunken-eyed girl described her despair since becoming an addict. "Since I started doing this I've lost everything and only lived for heroin. Nothing else matters. But nobody wants to admit they're going down the drain," she said. Student veterans against caps, gowns Nebraska's StudcntVeterans Organization, in a resolution sent to the Board of Regents, recommended that the mandatory traditional practice of requiring graduating seniors to wear caps and gowns at commencement exercises be abolished. Calling the money spent for caps and gowns "trite and wasteful," the resolution instead proposes that the choice of wearing apparel be left to the student. The resolution reads in part. . "we appreciate the rights and desires of those students wishing to wear the traditional cap and gown at graduation, but we feel students should not be forced to comply with the tradition." The resolution urges those students choosing not to wear caps and gowns to donate the rental fee to the Nebraska Foundation for scholarship. Center to provide summer day care The Child Day Care Center operated in the United Ministries in Higher Education, 333 N. 14th St., will be open this summer. John Ritchie of Student Affairs announced Thursday. The center will be open from 7:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. so students enrolled in summer school can leave their children while attending classes. According to Ritchie, the center will be open to older childien than in the past. This summer the center is open for children up to nine years old, he said. PAGE 6 THE DAILY NEBRASKAN WEDNESDAY, MAY 5,1971