Thursday, February 6, 1986/The Battalion/Page 9
A&M study shows addicts
not always hooked for life
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By MELISSA SPANN
Reporter
The old philosophy — once an addict, always an ad
dict— does not hold true, according to Dr. D. Dwayne
Simpson, a Texas A&M psychology professor and di
rector of a heroin addiction study conducted by
A&M’s Behavioral Research Program.
“People get off drugs many different ways, and
what we established in this particular study is that
treatment has a lot to do with that,” Simpson said. The
treatment may not cause the addicts to get off drugs,
he said,but it at least provides them with a place to go
and a support system.
The 12-year nationwide study of heroin addicts
shows that daily use of heroin among former drug
abusers has decreased drastically, Simpson said.
From a national perspective the study is the longest-
running examination of what happens to heroin ad
dicts after they receive help from federally funded
community treatment centers, he said.
The National Institute on Drug Abuse of the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services is funding
the study, and the findings are being used by NIDA to
help formulate federal funding policies for drug
abuse treatment.
An earlier stage of the study focused on program
success in treating addicts and on which types of pro
grams worked better, Simpson said.
“As taxpayers, we spend around $500 million an
nually supporting drug abuse treatment programs in
the country,” he said.
Many of the addicts do not realize how they affect
other people’s lives, Simpson said. He said many ad
dicts are very self-centered and do not think about
laws and families.
“As often seen in the philosophy of more recent
generations, if using drugs feels good, do it,” Simpson
said. "It’s my life, and if I’m not messing up anyone
else then why do you care?”
Although this is the attitude many addicts take,
their addiction does affect taxpayers, he said.
During the three-phase study, the addicts were
asked why they started using heroin, Simpson said.
The responses varied, but many had to do with cu
riosity, sensation seeking, relaxation, psychological ef
fects and getting away from problems, he said.
“The drug scene is much more complicated today,”
Simpson said. '
Drug abuse is much broader, and there are many
more different kinds of drugs, he said.
“Drugs are much more faddish,” Simpson said. “We
have drugs that come and go.
“The problem we have now is that information and
knowledge about the effects of drugs and personal
choices are not always consistent. Our attitudes about
things often are not consistent with our behaviors.”
Many people get pulled in and addicted to drugs
the same way as with smoking and alcohol, Simpson
said.
People believe they are different and are in control,
he said. The process happens very gradually, and peo
ple get caught in it and don’t realize how far into it
they are, he added.
More younger people are becoming involved in
drugs, Simpson said. The use of heroin has dropped,
he said, but multiple drug use has increased.
Simpson said most drug use is labeled recreational,
meaning that people try drugs for fun but don’t use
them regularly.
During the study, addicts were asked why they quit
using drugs, and more than 80 percent said they quit
because they were tired of the drug life, Simpson said.
Fear of the law was also reported by about 60 per
cent, and about 60 percent of the addicts said their
families and friends influenced them to quit, he said.
“The philosophy fortunately is changing some
what,” Simpson said. “I think there is still a lot of self-
indulgence in our culture, but a lot of it’s becoming
health-conscious and preventive in nature.”
Simpson said he believes that AIDS will have some
impact on drug-use patterns.
“I think it’s going to have a substantial impact, prob
ably as much as anything that has ever happened,”
Simpson said, “but no one really knows.”
Artificial heart recipient in stable condition
Associated Press
HOUSTON — A 41-year-old re
fill! tired Army officer was listed in sta
ble condition Wednesday after re
ceiving a Jarvik-7 artificial heart,
surgeons at the Texas Heart Insti
tute said.
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A team at St. Luke’s Episcopal
Hospital headed by Dr. Denton
Cooley completed the two-hour op
eration about 1 a.m. Tuesday on
Maj. Harris Kent of El Paso.
Cooley said the operation was nec
essary because doctors felt Kent
would die in a few hours without it.
Frazier and Cooley said the artifi
cial heart was being used as a tempo-
—
rary life-saving device to be replaced
by a donor human heart.
Kent was described as awake and
alert and responding appropriately.
The only complication during the
operation was that the artificial heart
did not properly fit in the man’s
chest and surgeons had to make
some slight adjustments, Frazier
said.
The Texas Heart Institute re
cently received U.S. Food and Drug
Adminstration approval to use the
Jarvik-7.
Kent became the third person in
the nation this week to receive an im
plant.
Cooley said doctors inserted an in
traaortic balloon pump to help
Kent’s heart on Jan. 29. Three days
later, his condition stabilized and the
pump was removed. Monday, how
ever, his condition worsened and the
artificial heart was implanted.
Cooley, who performed the na
tion’s first successful heart trans
plant in 1968 and the world’s first
artificial heart transplant a year
later, lately has criticized permanent
artificial hearts, saying the devices
are useful only for keeping patients
alive until they can receive a human
heart.
“We have felt from the beginning
that the total artificial heart in its
current form is in the developmental
stage,” Cooley said.
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Juniors
welcome back.,.
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