European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 25, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Who takes what illegal drugs in America by Bob Dart Cox news service a heroin addict is a Needle scarred los Erin a big City ghetto and he mugs folks to support his habit right not , a new group of heroin users has emerged the president s commission on organized crime has reported. These Are the Middle class users who Are involved with heroin As a result of their cocaine  heroin it seems is snorted sometimes to counteract the negative effects of heavy cocaine use. As cocaine use increases we re seeing More heroin addicts because heroin is the strongest neutralizer around for cocaine toxicity a drug abuse Center director said in the commission report. And we re not talking about gang members and derelicts. I m treating people who pay their Union dues go to the Pat take their kids to Little league. We be even got a program for  in a three Inch thick study entitled America s habit drug abuse drug trafficking and organized crime that was presented to president Reagan recently the commission recommended that America s employers consider widespread testing of their employees for drug abuse. One reason testing is needed the report said is because drug abusers often Don t match their Public perceptions. A drug user the report indicated can be just about anyone. Here Are some of the commission s findings about who takes what illegal drugs in America heroin. Traditionally heroin has been viewed As the hardest drug the report said. Heroin is highly addictive usually shot into a vein through a hypodermic Needle and lethal when overdosed. With its worst drug reputation heroin seemed unlikely to gain popularity among achievers in affluent suburbs. The typical portrait of the heroin addict is an unemployed minority male with Little education who commits crime to support his habit the report said. This has been historically accurate the commission said but there is a new phenomenon in drug use Middle class users who take both heroin and cocaine. Some become addicts. Others do not apparently being Able to use the drug recreation ally. While regular use of heroin is generally addictive there appears to be a group of users known As chippers who Are Able to use heroin occasionally Over a Long period of time without becoming addicts the report said. An indication of this increased consumption the report found is that heroin related deaths reached 1,046 in 1984, a 31 percent increase Over 1983. Cocaine. The commission disputed the myth that cocaine users Are flashy fast Lane riders wealthy and fashionable. A Survey of callers to a National 800-cocaine hot line in 1983 showed that the average caller was a 31-year-old White male who had gone to College and made More than $25,t 00 a year. A similar Survey in 1985 showed that cocaine using callers were just As Likely to be women minorities adolescents uneducated and poor. Surveys of cocaine users demonstrated there is no typical cocaine user the report said. With the possible exception of marijuana cocaine is used by a wider demographic Cross Section of society than any other controlled  there is also a trend toward using cocaine in combination with other drugs injecting heroin and cocaine Speedball mixing cocaine and pc. In addition to inhaling cocaine into the nostrils users Are increasingly smoking coca paste and base or purified rocks of the drug. Cocaine has been tried by 25 million americans and 5 to 6 million people use it at least once a month the report said. Marijuana. Pot smoking is everywhere the commission found from Madison Avenue brainstorming sessions to the cabs of 18-wheelers rolling Down the expressways. Around 25 percent of All americans have tried marijuana and 20 million smoke it at least once a month. While most marijuana users Are Between the Ages of 18 and 25, it is in no Means limited to that age group. Indeed children As Young As 9 have been found to use marijuana. The stereotype of a marijuana user As a spaced out marginal citizen has Given Way to the reality that the drug is very much part of the mainstream of american life the report concluded. Synthetic drugs. Pc a Hallucinogen once used As an animal tranquil Izer and now known As Angel dust on the streets is particularly associated with crime the report said. It is the drug most often detected in adults arrested in Washington d.c., police testing found. Because it is cheap and easy to make by anyone with a rudimentary knowledge of chemistry pc is used often by the poor residents of intercity neighbourhoods. Controlled substance analogs the so called designer drugs Are concocted to mimic the effects of other illegal drugs. Fenta nyl analogs among the most commonly used designer drugs produce a feeling of euphoria similar to that associated with heroin use the report said. The commission did not profile the users of these analogs however. The reason that illegal drug trafficking is such a big crime problem is that so Many otherwise Law abiding citizens buy and use the drugs the report said. It is our obligation to look further and recognize that those among us friends relatives colleagues and other respectable people whose Small personal drug purchases at the base of the consumption Pyramid Are the driving Force behind the traffickers assault on this country the commission concluded. This Means an end to tolerance of drug use at every level of  tuesday March 25, 1986 the stars and stripes Page 13