University of Houston - Houstonian Yearbook (Houston, TX)

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Something To Be Concerned About It‘s more than the average student with a job wired on caffine during finals. It's more serious than a man selling marijuana at a rock concert. The kids in the disco think it's cool. It begins from social pressure — they often become addicted. It happens to someone we all know but don't like to talk about, in the closet again, using XTC (or X”), cocaine and crack. Recreational drugs which can be lethal. 26

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Unpleasant As It Is: Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome ed among only 75 college students, the actual number is expected to be higher. Because the incubation period for the disease is from three months to five years, there will be many more cases surfacing. The bottom line is that a casual occur-ance which required little thought, may become a fatal mistake. But still the ignorance exists among college students. Fraternities across the nation have been known to ridicule the AIDS disease for a party theme. Most white middle class Americans have the attitude that their sexual practices are invincible. They tend to believe that their partner, no matter how casual or committed, could not possible carry a sexually transmitted disease. Ironically, many of these people who feel secure around others of their own stereotype, share outrageous myths about ways of contracting the disease. Some falsely believe the disease can be passed on by being in the presence of a person with AIDS. And some falsely believe they will get AIDS if they touch a homosexual. While others have even more ridiculous notions about the disease. The truth of the matter is that the virus which causes AIDS is spread from one person's blood or body fluid to that of another. It is not transmitted through the air, nor can the virus live on any dry surface, including healthy skin. It is primarily spread through sexual contact of any kind, or through intravenous drug use. It is not like many other diseases or unplanned pregnancy, however. A person can carry the virus for an undetermined amount of time, and continue to pass it on, undetected. — Mark Lacy Intravenous drug users arc among the high risk groups that make up 91 percent of the 36,000 reported AIDS cases, along with male homosexuals and bisexuals. But AIDS can strike people of all races, males and females, young and old, and even children. It is estimated that 15 million people in the U.S. carry the virus. Because of the scare, some people are ordering a straw with their drink when they go out. While there are many myths about AIDS, it is nor a myth that heterosexuals can contract the disease the same as people in high risk groups. Four percent of 36.000 reported AIDS cases arc heterosexuals. That number is expected to increase drastically over the next 10-15 years. Some facts about AIDS as we understand them. They are not 100 percent conclusive. • There is not a test for AIDS. There is a test to determine if a person has been infected with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) sometime in the past. It is estimated that 25-50 percent of persons infected with the HIV will dcvelopc AIDS, and an additional 25-30 percent will develope a less severe illness. It is uncertain why some infected with the HIV will develope AIDS and some will not. • Pregnant women who are infected with the HIV may pass the virus on to their unborn children. • Once infected, the virus may persist in the blood and body fluids, and can be passed on, for many years and possibly for life. • A person cannot contract AIDS by donating blood. • A person can develope AIDS even five years or more after being exposed to the virus. • The virus can be passed from female to male during intercourse, though it is more commonly passed from male to female or male to male. • In five years, health officials estimate that 270,000 Americans will have AIDS, an almost certain death for many of them. • There are no known drugs that will cure AIDS. While many universities and public schools are taking on the responsibility of sex education, some radical groups Continue to spread myths about the

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Poppy, once native to regions of southeast Asia, is now being harvested in Mexico and processed in remote shacks before being smuggled across the border into the U.S. Driving that train, high on cocaine. Casey Jones you better watch your speed. Trouble ahead, trouble behind ...” Maybe I should've paid more attention to the lyrics, or maybe 1 just should have paid more attention. I knew I hadn't seen that guy around the apartment before, but I was more intent on catching a buzz than finding out who he was. What did I care. I'd scored and that was all that mattered. Now it was time to crank up the stereo, take a few tokes and get my head together. All I could think about as I turned up the Dead was that this rock better be worth the trouble I had gone through to get it. As I began the ritual of carefully loading my pipe, I prepared myself for the first blast. It had been almost a day since I had scored any coke. The first hit scorched my throat and burned all the way to the bottom of my lungs, but I didn't care because I knew that by the second or third toke, my throat would be too numb to feel the pain, and besides. I was getting used to it. I held that first hit in my lungs as long as I could, the buzz began about the same time. I closed my eyes and tilted my head back enjoying the spinning sensation in my head and the tingling feeling in my fingers and toes. It was like all the troubles in the world had been lifted off my shoulders, as if by magic. I didn't have a care in the world, and I sure didn't feel like dealing with reality, so I took another toke. I was just about finished with that bowl when I thought I heard someone at the door. Come on in, the door's open,” (and the party's just getting started. I thought). The door didn't move. 1 thought it's probably just someone walking down the hall. My friends haven't been around in a while. So I load up another bowl and, I'm lighting up when, WHAM! The door comes crashing open, and in walks the guy I saw in the hall, and two cops. What the hell?” Shut up and get your hands up.” You can't come in here! 'You're under arrest.” You can't do that! You've gotta have a warrant or something! I know my rights! We’ve got a warrant and you're under arrest. Put your hands behind you and shut up. You have the right to remain silent. You have the right to ... Cuffed, they take me downtown and book me. Then they put me in a holding tank with this worthless drunk who smells like he hasn't had a bath in a month. What the hell am I going to do? I've got one call, but I can't afford bail. I spent my last dime on coke. How am I going to explain this to my ole man? He thinks I'm spending all my money at the frat house. Dad's going to hit the roof when he finds out, and what if he finds out this isn't the first time. As the DEA kept a firm hold on drug trafficking in Florida, drug trade over the 2.000 mile border between the U.S. and Mexico increased. And that means the drug supply in Houston was never greater. The Houston Police Dept, routinely raids crack houses where crack or rock”, a potentially deadly form of cocaine is manufactured from poppy. After a raid on a crack house in the vicinity of UH, the police spray painted Go ahead, make my day across the front as a warning to others waiting to be busted. All of these things, even happening less than a mile from campus, seem distant until it happens to someone close to you. The hazards of cocaine become real when a friend drops out of school or can't cope with everyday life because of a love I really will, say no-to-drugs, says Jim Mclngvale. a local advertiser. Local news personalities are in on it too. MTV, with their R.A.D. (Rock Against Drugs) campaign, is a part of the effort. They are all part of a massive anti-drug campaign. First Lady Nancy Reagan, in her War on Drugs, uses the slogan, Say no to drugs, which was developed by the UH Social Psychology Bchavioral Medicine Research Group. Directed by Professor Richard Evans, the group originally developed the say no strategy to use against cigarette smoking among teenagers. Realizing the similarities that make teens sue-ceptable to peer pressure, the strategy was expanded to fight hate relationship with the drug. And it gets worse — that person stands a good chance of dying. Yet. the drug industry is thriving. Media attention soared when twenty-two year old I.en Bias, a basketball player at the University of Maryland with a promising future, died of cocaine intoxication in June '86. He was just one in a long line of stars that have been victims of its deadly pleasure. Ex-football star Mercury Morris now does public service commercials encouraging kids to not wreck their lives with drugs the way he did. New York Mets' pitcher Dwight Gooden checked into a chemical dependencies rehabilitation center. Two Rockets players. Mitchell Wiggins and Lewis Lloyd were banned from the NBA for using cocaine. And when celebrities die from an overdose like John Belushi, books about their problematic lives become best sellers. But as actors and athletes continue to ruin their careers and their lives, they continue to glamourize the use of drugs — making profits for dealers better than ever. drug and alcohol addiction. Richard Evans, however, feels that this is not enough. And so, for the group, which is supported by a grant from the National Cancer Institute, a huge task lies ahead. 77