OBITUARIES

Gabriel Nahas Vociferous campaigner against marijuana and other illicit drugs

Gabriel Georges Nahas, anesthesiologist and Nahas supported cardiopulmonary physiologist (b 1920; q 1944, Nancy Reagan, University of Toulouse), died on wife of President 28 June 2012 from a respiratory infection. Reagan, in her In 1969, the year of the famous Woodstock music antidrug Just festival and the height of the hippie movement, Say No campaign. Gabriel Nahas attended a meeting of the parent He believed teacher association at a local school that would that marijuana change the direction of his life. could weaken At the meeting, Nahas, a professor of anesthe- the immune sia at Columbia University College of Physicians system and and Surgeons in New York City, heard a detailed presentation of the increasingly widespread contribute to use of marijuana in US cities. He was shocked. leukemia and For more than a decade he had been publishing other cancers, papers regularly on cardiac, pulmonary, and infertility, and coronary research and was a recognized expert brain damage on acidosis.1‑3 But from that point on, his main research interest switched to an effort to try to saw men on the street who seemed drunk. His Despite the glowing support from Paton, prove the dangers of marijuana and other illicit parents did not shield him, telling the boy that some negative book reviews followed, includ- drugs. they were suffering the ill effects of hashish. ing one in the New England Journal of Medicine As a medical student in France in the second that accused Nahas of basing the book on “half- Just Say No world war Nahas set up a network to help about truths, innuendo and unverifiable assertions.”4 His efforts, though, went far beyond the labora- 200 downed British airmen escape to Spain. He Other doctors jumped to Nahas’ defense, writ- tory. He became an extremely polarizing leader was captured several times by German soldiers ing supportive letters to the editors of the New of the antidrug movement. In the 1980s Nahas and had his ribs broken during one interroga- England Journal of Medicine and the Journal of supported Nancy Reagan, wife of President tion. For his heroism he received the French the American Medical Association.5 6 Reagan, in her antidrug Just Say No campaign, legion of honor, the US presidential medal of appearing with her at a public rally. He believed freedom, and the order of the British Empire. Strong support and bitter opposition that marijuana could weaken the immune sys- Nahas earned his medical degree in 1944 The vehemently opposing opinions triggered by tem and contribute to leukemia and other can- from the University of Toulouse, continuing his the first book were to follow Nahas for the rest of cers, infertility, and brain damage. training after the war in the US, including a doc- his life. Each of his almost dozen books, and many Nahas, who was a member of the French torate in cardiopulmonary physiology in 1953 of his public antidrug statements, sparked emo- resistance during the second world war and from the University of Minnesota. He settled in tional outpourings of strong support and bitter was not afraid of a battle, became a hero to mil- the US, but kept close academic and personal opposition. “His passion stood out,” says Dupont. lions, but also a lightning rod for criticism and ties in France. He was friends with the French “He was irrepressible and determined. He was a ridicule from others, especially those who sup- deep sea explorer Jacques Cousteau, who held hero of our nation. He was the Paul Revere of drug ported legalization of marijuana use. similar antidrug views and wrote the forewords use, warning the nation of the terrible danger that “Dr Nahas was a resistance fighter,” says for three of Nahas’ books. After a stint at Walter lay just ahead.” R­obert L DuPont, a so called drug czar in the Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, he Nahas was involved with or honored by several White House under presidents Richard Nixon joined Columbia University in 1959, retiring in national and international antidrug groups. He and Gerald Ford, as well as the first director 1990. served as consultant for the United Nations Com- of the National Institute on Drug Abuse. “He Nahas published most of his results on mission on Narcotic Drugs and spoke at antidrug enjoyed the David role in David versus Goliath illicit drugs in books rather than in scientific events around the world. Grainne Kenny, a friend battles wherever he could find them, and he sure journals. His first book,Marihuana: Deceptive of Nahas, said that in 1991 he traveled to Dublin found them in the US over the past four decades. Weed, was published in 1972 with a foreword to speak at the first meeting of Europe Against He was supremely confident he was right. I written by the University of Oxford pharma- Drugs, which she had cofounded. “He paid all his quickly came to agree with him in his judgment cologist William Paton, who stated, “It is its own expenses,” she said. “He didn’t take a penny.” about marijuana’s dangerousness.” realistic, medically responsible approach that And she added, “He was a mesmerizing speaker, Gabriel Georges Nahas was exposed to the gives this book such a freshness of outlook in so full of energy and passion and knowledge.” potential dangers of illicit drug use early in life a controversial field. Dr Nahas has come to the Nahas leaves his wife, Marilyn, and three children. in Alexandria, Egypt, where he was born on 4 conclusion, which I share, that the innocuous- Ned Stafford freelance journalist, Hamburg March 1920 to a French mother and Lebanese ness of cannabis is being overstated, and its References are in the version on bmj.com. father. Hashish use was widespread; he often dangers underestimated.” Cite this as: BMJ 2012;345:e6540

BMJ | 6 OCTOBER 2012 | VOLUME 345 33