Hospital Tribune has recently published several reports showing black market drugs vary not only in potency but often contain drugs different from those represented by the dealer.
Investigators at the New Jersey Neuro-Psychiatric Institute obtained and analyzed 36 samples from users. Most, but not all of the samples said to be LSD were really LSD (the amount of LSD in the sample ranged from 50 to 283 micrograms). NONE of the drugs sold as mescaline, psilocybin or THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) turned out to be those substances. Four samples of alleged mescaline were actually STP.
DEAR DR. SCHOENFELD: Please is there any place or anything to stop a girl of 29 taking meprobamate (Miltown, Equanil) tranquilizers for 8 years? She has been hospitalized. Cannot be stopped. It didn’t help. I am terrible afraid for her life. I do anything to get her out of it.
She had a psychiatrist for a time but it didn’t help. She came home from his office and took them again—8 or 10 a day.
Her memory will be gone and finally death will come from it. Please Dr. could you advise something or some good place where she could not get to Miltown—even some private nice place. Best would be for her to go to a place where she can not get it. But not Synanon place.
Grieving Mother
ANSWER: Most people aren’t aware that meprobamate (Miltown) can be an addictive drug. That’s one reason why it’s available only through a physician’s order.
Many communities with a large hip population have “Switchboards” (in Detroit, 831–2770) which could refer your daughter to a treatment facility. Another source of information is the Department of Mental Health of your local health department. You didn’t say why Synanon was ruled out, it might be just the right kind of therapy for her.
DEAR DR. SCHOENFELD: Many years ago when I was a lad the family doctor advised me to get laid. When I protested that I didn’t want to take a chance of getting a girl pregnant, he described a technique whereby both parties could have all the pleasures of intercourse with none of the risks.
His instructions were to have the girl clasp my penis between her thighs so that clitoral contact would be made and using Vaseline for a lubricant carry on as usual.
As far as I was concerned, the difference between internal and external sensation was trivial. Some girls found it sufficient, some not—but it was better than nothing and did not involve either loss of virginity or pregnancy.
ANSWER: You were lucky. Many, many cases of pregnancy have occurred in virgins as a result of techniques similar to the one you describe. If ejaculated semen reaches the vaginal entrance, miraculous results may follow.
DEAR DR. SCHOENFELD: I am seeing a man I really like and who likes me. Our screwing has been really good but it is our kissing that sucks.
You see, he is partial to dry kisses and much to our mutual dismay I am a wet kisser: lots of tongue and saliva. We both admit the humor inherent in the situation, but nevertheless it is serious as it prevents him from wanting to make love to me as much as I would like.
I have considered running an ad requesting a dry kissing male who enjoys wet kisses (I don’t like wet kisses either). However this solution would not alleviate our problem.
Is there anything I could use to dry up my mouth? Or do you have any advice on how to get over a hang-up like this? My friend admits that it is as much his problem as mine.
ANSWER: Your friendly neighborhood pharmacist could supply you with a drug that has dryness of the mouth as a side effect, an anti-histamine or atropine compound, for example. But obviously it’s not feasible or desirable to be constantly drugged. Another complication is that other parts of your body would also become dried.
Perhaps readers could suggest Pavlovian or other solutions to this problem.
Dr. Schoenfeld welcomes your letters. Write to him at 1611 San Pablo Avenue, Berkeley, California 94702.