Newsgroups: seattle.general,pnw.general,alt.drugs,talk.politics.drugs
Subject: Re: "Hard" Drug Legalization (was Re: Eskimo North Users Meeting & Iniative Measure 595)

     Let's look at that most demonized of all drugs, PCP. Turns you into a
violent supercriminal, right? Wrong.

     Here's what the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services said in _Drug
Abuse and Drug Abuse Research_, an annual report to Congress. (1991, p 153)

	"There are two aspects to phencyclidine (PCP) intoxication that
	have warranted particular attention by the general public, as well
	as by law-enforcement and clinical personnel.  Both aspects concern
	the relationship between phencyclidine abuse and aggressive 
	behavior.  There are reports of increased aggressiveness and 
	'super-human' strength that develop in some people who take
	phencyclidine.

	Recent studies, including those of men arrested for criminal
	activity in Washington D.C. and New York City (Wish 1986) and
	evaluations of published clinical reports of phencyclidine
	intoxication (Brecher et al. 1988), indicate that if 
	phencyclidine induces violent, criminal behavior, it does so only
	extremely infrequently.  

	Although Wish (1986) noted that most men who had urines positive
	for phencyclidine were younger than those who had taken no drugs
	or other drugs, their crimes were likely to be __less aggressive__
	than the crimes of those who had not taken phencyclidine.  
	[emphasis added -ma]  Khajawall et al. (1982) found no
	difference in the behavior of clients admitted for phencyclidine
	detoxification and those admitted for opioid detoxification.  __Thus,
	phencylidine-induced aggression appears to be a rare phenomenon,
	if it occurs at all__. [emph -ma]"

cited references:

	Wish, E.D.  PCP and crime:  just another illicit drug?  _Natl
		Inst Drug Abuse Res Monogr Ser_ 64:174-189, 1986.

	Brecher, M.; Wang, B.W.; Wong, H.; and Morgan, J.P.  Phencyclidine
		and violence:  clinical and legal issues.  _J Clinical
		Psychopharmacology_ 8:397-401, 1988.

	Khajawall, A.M.; Erickson, T.B.; and Simpson, G.M.  Chronic 
		phencyclidine abuse and physical assault.  _Am J
		Psychiat_  139:1604-1606, 1982.

===============================================================================
Tom Swiss/[t m s] at [cs.umd.edu]  |  "Born to die"   |   Keep your laws off my brain!
     "What's so funny 'bout peace, love and understanding?" - Nick Lowe 
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