Illegal Drugs

SAN JOSE, Calif. - From the moment a steroid scandal linked to BALCO Laboratories broke last fall, pulling in high-profile names that included that of Barry Bonds, sports officials have made their position clear: The previously undetectable substance, THG, is an anabolic steroid that promotes muscle growth and enhances athletic performance. Case closed. In a legal sense, however, the issue might not be that simple. This question is going to be central, not only to the Olympic sports cases before the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency this week, but perhaps also to the public perception of Bonds: What exactly is THG?

People who drive high on illegal drugs have been a problem for years, but Maryland authorities are increasingly concerned about another highway danger: drivers who get behind the wheel while strung out on prescription medications. In Harford County, drivers impaired by prescription drugs dominate those arrested for "drugged driving" violations. In Baltimore County, heroin is the leading drug, but legal drugs -- from anti-depressants to powerful narcotics such as OxyContin -- are running a close second, authorities said.

CHICAGO - One day 12 years ago, when Joel Hernandez came to work at Hughes Missile Systems in Tucson, Ariz., his supervisors got a strong whiff of alcohol. There was a reason for this aroma: He had spent the previous evening drinking, and snorting cocaine. Mr. Hernandez, a missile technician, was given a drug test, which he failed. The company gave him the opportunity to resign rather than be fired. He agreed, and his 25-year association with Hughes was over. Or so the company thought.

Who's hot Mike Williams of the Pirates has earned 30 saves in 32 opportunities. Who's not Ryan Dempster, in three starts for the Reds, is 0-3 and has given up 20 hits and 16 runs in 12 innings. Line of the day Jacque Jones, Twins LF AB R H RBI HR 6 2 5 2 1 He said it "We have much bigger problems to deal with than whether or not home runs are being achieved illegally." A Drug Enforcement Administration agent, on the likelihood of investigating baseball players for steroids and other illegal drugs On deck The Angels, fresh off their sweep of the Mariners, take on the A's, the AL West's other top contender, tonight.

Shortage of drugs isn't the reason for city's recent violence Thank you for the editorial stressing the need for appropriate treatment options for criminal drug addicts in Baltimore ("Spike in city killings linked to drug famine," Nov. 11). However, the premise in the title, that the recent rise in homicides is because of a scarcity of illegal drugs, is only very weakly supported. It doesn't make sense that all illegal drugs in the country were consumed in the few weeks between Sept. 11 and early October, which The Sun has identified as the beginning of our violent crime wave ("City police to redeploy officers," Nov. 7)

Baltimore police say that an apparent decline in the supply of illegal drugs, which they believe is linked to a recent spate of killings and shootings, could be the beginning of a broader trend that might lead to more violence. Detectives have begun closely tracking street sales and the purity of drugs they seize to discern clues about shifting alliances between street dealers and suppliers, said Maj. Anthony G. Cannavale, who leads the department's narcotics unit. By increasing surveillance, police officials hope to prevent more violence.

PULASKI, Va. - The armed robberies of pharmacies have the police chief of this little town concerned, but then he has a lot on his mind these days. There are the reports of girls prostituting themselves and of some elderly residents suddenly becoming drug dealers. One officer had to shoot a man who allegedly tried to run him down. In addition to all of that, a lot of people around him are dying young. "And," says the chief, Gary Roche, "I got a public interest in people not dropping dead."

We are eating dinner with friends at a Charles Street pub. Several of us are drinking wine, another Coca Cola. One woman leaves to have a cigarette over at the bar. My husband orders a coffee. All in all, a thoroughly ordinary scene repeated millions of times all over America, nay, all over the world. Elsewhere in Baltimore, teen-agers are hawking and smoking blunts, thick marijuana cigarettes, while older addicts are smoking cocaine or injecting heroin. Alas, an ordinary scene repeated millions of times all over America, nay, all over the world.

I RECENTLY saw my 10-year-old stepson Vince "graduate" from the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program - DARE for short. He sang "1-2-3 F-R-E-E" and "Talk It Out" and took a "solemn vow" to "say no to alcohol, tobacco and illegal drugs, and yes to my own self-worth." But I don't think he is, in the end, any less likely to use drugs than when he began. What he's learned, if anything, is that the adults involved, well-intentioned though they are, don't understand drugs or children. Taught by police officers in 75 percent of the nation's school districts, including Baltimore, DARE is the dominant program for anti-drug education in this country.

THE USE OF illegal drugs is probably the most serious problem facing America and most other nations because increasing numbers of users are chancing addiction, irreversible physical or mental impairment and death. Yet Americans spend an estimated $63.2 billion annually on these drugs while, globally, the price tag is around $400 billion. Added to this is the astronomical toll exacted on society. Workplace accidents, production losses, increases in crime, victimization, hospital, court, prison and related impacts cost Americans about $110 billion annually.