Page 4-Friday, May 19, 1978-The Michigan Daily
Gmichigan DAILY
Eighty-eight Years of Editorial Freedom
420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Ml. 48109
Vol. LXXXVIII, No. 13-S News Phone: 764-0552
Friday, May 19, 1978
Edited and managed by students
at the University of Michigan
Jets block peace
B EFORE PRESIDENT CARTER assumed of-
fice he promised Americans that the United
States would not remain the global arms pur-
veyor. But since taking office, Carter has only
perpetuated such an American image.
And this week is certainly no exception. The
Senate Monday endorsed Carter's plan to sell jet
fighters to Israel, Egypt, and Saudi arabia, rejec-
ting a resolution to block the sale by a vote of 54 to
44. The $5 billion package provides for sending 75
F-16s to Israel; 60 F-15s toSaudi Arabia and 50 less
sophisticated F-5Es to Egypt.
The administration had lobbied hard to quash
public fears that Arab nations would use the
planes against Israel in any future war. Carter
warned senators that denial of the sales "would be
a devastating blow to Egyptian President Anwar
Sadat and his efforts to bring peace."
Though a rejection would likely have been a
blow to Sadat, it certainly would have been the
right move in terms of attempts at peace in the
Mideast. With greater arms, the Arabs and
Israelis can afford to be even more inflexible. The
U.S. has demonstrated that if peace negotiations
are stalled it will provide the conflicting countries
with arms - an action which certainly doesn't en-
courage peace-making as the administration and
Senate both seem to believe.
The arms sale also brings up the concern of
blackmail by Saudi Arabia. Some government of-
ficials concluded that failing to sell the Saudis
arms would have resulted in that country raising
its oil prices. While that may be true, it is impor-
tant that the U.S. be on the lookout for any forms
of blackmail when negotiating deals with any
nation-whether arms sales or automobile sales.
If Carter has any desire to push for world peace,
he should do so by eliminating arms sales-not
upholding them.
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Gov't burns public
By ud Raowkythe individual smoked
By Judy Rakowsky marijuana, but the death was not
There's something wrong with necessarily paraquat-induced.
a government that attempts to Of course, government officials
eliminate a problem while are masking ramifications of
riskng prmannt halthparaquat out of embarrassment.
anage to an et eed 9 lIt already faces a $100 million
of its citizens who smoke lawsuit from the National
marijuana. Organization for the Reform of
The U.S. government has spent Marijuana Laws (NORML) for
The .S.govrnmet hs sentwhat the state Department
millions of dollars trying to prove claims is a successful crusade
that marijuana is harmful to our against importation of illicit sub-
health, but has failed to produce stances.
conclusive evidence that it is any The U.S. government says it
more dangerous than other, legal cannot influence the Mexicans to
substances such as alcohol and stop spraying. Severe impair-
tobacco. E t dment of the spraying could be
NONETHELESS, the federal -easily achieved by curtailing
government has poured more financial support, and aircraft
than $10 million per year into a supplies used for spraying.
marijuana spraying program : President Carter has urged the
that not only destroys the weed, - Mexican government to sub-
but endangers the lives of those - stitute paraquat with the
who unwittingly smoke the con- chemical 2,4-D, a DDT-based
taminated substance. With finan- herbicide, This substance has
cial assistance from the U.S., the Paraquat and the pot smoker: Getting beeb oud. indu ce m s
Mexican government has been burnedat both ends.
Mexian gvermenthas eenmore rapidly in the smoker, other
spraying marijuana crops with effects are similar to paraquat,
the toxic herbicide paraquat. But millions of regular pot smokers according to Alfred Coof, director
before the poison disintegrates have not turned to heroin or hard of the Flint testing laboratory for
the plants, Mexican farmers drug addiction. paraquat contamination.
have harvested it, packed it, and, It certainly seems hypocritical
now Americans are smoking it: NO ONE WAS dying or suf- for the government to take such
In an attempt to justify the fering from smoking marijuana drastic steps to extirpate a sub-
spraying the State Department before it was sprayed with stance that is being widely
points out that poppy fields are paraquat, a poisonous substance decriminalized, with presidential
also sprayed, and this has for which there is no antidote. endorsement, in law-making
allegedly helped cut heroin- The health effects of smoking bodies across the nation.
related deaths in the U.S. by 30- paraquat-laced pot have not been Although the users of marijuana
40 percent. But, a relatively in- well-documented by the Depar- are dealing with an illicit sub-
nocous drug like marijuana can tment of Health, Education, and stance, the remedy to that
hardly be compared to a known Welfare (HEW). HEW merely situation cannot be found in in-
killer like heroin. issued a warning on paraquat's flicting permanent damage upon
In tying these disparate drugs potential harm, and asserted that them with an undetectable
together, the State Department irreversible lung damage is poison.

illustrates its acceptance of the likely for heavy consumers. One
archaic conception that death was reported in
marijuana use leads to harder Poughkeepsie, N.Y., but gover-
drugs. It is quite obvious that the nment officials quickly noted that


Judy Rakowsky is a Daily
staff writer.

HEALTH SERVICE HANDBOOK:
Dangers of drinking
By Sylvia Hacker ce it takes time to start to metabolize the alcohol,
and Nancy Palchik and for our system to realize that the alcohol is
QUESTION: Is it possible to actually overdose there- to begin with, you can pervert the whole
(and die) from drinking too much alcohol, or would process by downing too much too soon. Fifteen shots
a person just get drunk and pass out? of Tequila in 15 minutes or chug-a-lugging a whole
ANSWER: It is very possible to overdose from fifty of whiskey in 20 minutes could, depending on
alcohol. According to the information provided us your body weight, your -respiratory system's
by the "Do It Now Foundation" on Chemical Sur- uniqueness and other factors, create an overdose.
vival, about 1000 people every year die from Drinking the sameramount slowly, even if you could
drinking alcohol alone, that is, not in combination somehow manage to stay awake to do it, would have
with other drugs (which has received most of the a profoundly lesser effect.
publicity). Death is due to depression of the We should also note that a common form of
respiratory system. alcohol-related death can occur if persons vomit in
As we noted in one of our earlier columns, it takes their sleep and then involuntarily inhale the vomit
approximately one hour for the average drink (e.g into their lungs. So if you are around any friends
a 12 ounce bottle of beer, a four-to-five ounce glass who have passed out from drinking a little bit too
of wine, one-and-a-half-ounces of whiskey or the much, make certain that they are sleeping with
average cocktail) to be metabolized in your blood- their heads to one side, and not on their backs.
stream, Even if you drink alcoholic beverages Send all health-related questions to:
faster than your body can metabolize it, there is The Health Educators
usually a built-in safety mechanism: you get sick, University Health Service
pass out or are too drunk to drink any more, Div. of Office of Student Svces.
,UT, as Frazier and Pawlik, the authors of one of , 207 Flefcher
t1 q nd iio'spublicaions_ on alcohol note "sin- Onn Arbor, Mich, 48109

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