DRUG WATCH WORLD NEWS THE OFFICIAL March NEWSLETTER 2007 OF Vol. XII, No. 1 TM On Sunday, March 18, 2007, on behalf of Drug Watch International and its Marilyn Nahas read several con- Board of Directors, John J. Coleman, gratulatory cards and letters from President, presented the "Drug Watch people who recalled important mile- Freedom Award" to Dr. Gabriel G. stones in her husband's life and his Nahas, MD, PhD. for his outstanding crusade against drug abuse. She dedication to drug prevention and re- reminded everyone that "Gabby" search. Dr. Nahas was surrounded by often was fiercely and ruthlessly his beautiful family, wife attacked for his views by those seek- Marilyn, daughter, brother, and many ing to legalize drugs, especially nieces and nephews, their spouses and marihuana, and that in the early children. years he often stood alone, backed only by parents and early activists in what we call today the prevention- ists' movement. On behalf of her husband, Mrs. Nahas thanked some of those early supporters. John Coleman extends heartfelt thanks to Dr. Gabriel Nahas for his 1985 book, "Keep Off the Grass," given to Mr. Coleman in 1986 by Otto Moulton. Mr. Coleman re- minded all present how valuable this book was then -- and now -- in presenting the hazards of marihuana from a scientific perspective. The foreword to this book was written by Jacques Yves Cousteau, and the book was endorsed by two Nobel Prize win- ners in medicine, as well as the then-policy advisor to President Ronald Reagan on drug policy. Marilyn Nahas and her beloved husband, “Gabby." DRUG WATCH WORLD NEWS - MARCH 2007 - Page 1 DR. GABRIEL G. NAHAS By John J. Coleman, President, Drug Watch International “The ability of man to disturb the hazards of drug abuse. While his critics carried weight inside and outside of the ecology of the planet is matched by his from the 1970s and 1980s may have been scientific community as well as with propensity to pollute his own internal silenced by these recent discoveries, there policy makers at the highest levels. environment by using drugs of remain some, nonetheless, who are still Moreover, through his work, Dr. Nahas dependence.” These words are just as determined to legalize drugs. was able to validate the warnings of meaningful and timely today as in 1981 Although our award was intended to parents and others about the hazards of when ecologist and explorer Jacques Yves recognize and thank Dr. Nahas for his drug abuse. Cousteau included them in a foreword to a many years of dedication to drug abuse For many years before his retirement, book, Cocaine: The Great White Plague, prevention, it was Dr. Nahas and his Dr. Nahas worked as a professor of by Gabriel G. Nahas, MD, PhD, DSc. family who returned the gesture in the anesthesiology at the College of Dr. Nahas, a recent recipient of Drug form of thanking all of the parents’ groups, Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia Watch International’s Freedom Award, is individuals, and organizations, including University, as well at the University of recognized around the world as one of the some that are active and some that may no Paris where he was a professor of pioneers in drug abuse prevention. An longer be around, that provided support for medicine. He also served as a consultant to anesthesiologist by training, Dr. Nahas Dr. Nahas over the years. Marylyn Nahas the United Nations Commission on was among a very small group of scientists recalled that while there may have been Narcotics. in the 1960s who recognized the health times when Dr. Nahas appeared alone on From an earlier Drug Watch risks from abusing psychoactive the world’s stage, after these most difficult International account we find the substances, including marihuana. Indeed, times he would always tell her that he felt following: “Dr. Nahas was a French Dr. Nahas was almost alone in warning of the presence and support of parents and Partisan during World War II and has been marihuana’s short and long term health children standing with him. As the awarded the Presidential Medal of consequences. reminiscences of family and friends Freedom with gold palm, the Legion of The Library of Congress lists 30 concluded, Dr. Nahas acknowledged all of Honor, and the Order of the British published works since 1970 by Dr. Nahas. them with a smile and a heartfelt “Thank Empire, the Order of Orange Nassau and A common theme found in over three You.” the Medal of Honor of the Centennial of decades of his work is the need to prevent The history of this remarkable person the Statue of Liberty. In 1996, the French drug abuse, particularly among children. is quite interesting and well worth telling National Academy of Medicine, the oldest As a medical doctor, scientist, and parent, in its own right. Born in 1920 in and most prestigious medical academy in Dr. Nahas bridges the technical gap Alexandria, Egypt, Gabriel G. Nahas lived Europe, awarded him the title of Laureate between the sometimes arcane language of a comfortable life in a well-to-do family of the National Academy of Medicine for science and the language of concerned that included a father who was an engineer his studies and books on drug abuse.” parents seeking to protect their children and at least two uncles who were medical Just as his lifelong friend and from the destructive nature of drug abuse. professionals. As a child growing up, colleague Jacques Yves Cousteau warned On March 18, 2007, during the young Gabriel sometimes would ask his the world against disturbing the ecology of occasion of the Drug Watch International family about the people he passed on the the planet, Gabriel G. Nahas warned the presentation of its prestigious Freedom street who appeared intoxicated or world of the hazards of drug abuse -- the Award to Dr. Nahas, members of the lethargic. This is when he learned at an pollution of one’s “internal environment,” Nahas family provided personal glimpses early age the effects of hashish, a form of as Cousteau called it. Thanks to Dr. Nahas of a career often spent in professional cannabis resin popular in Egypt and other we have been adequately warned. Now, it isolation by colleagues predisposed to areas of the world. is up to us to continue the work of drug believing popular opinions about the In the 1950s, as he pursued a doctoral abuse prevention to which Dr. Nahas recreational use of drugs. As she read the degree at the University of Minnesota, Dr. dedicated so much of his life’s work. I good wishes of her husband’s many Nahas recalled that his fellow students know that I speak for every member of friends around the world, Marylyn Nahas were not using drugs at the time although, Drug Watch International, as well as our paused at times to recall that, over the then as now, they tended to drink a lot of friends in drug prevention around the years, their support provided Dr. Nahas the beer. By the late 1960s, and with his own world, in thanking Dr. Nahas for his encouragement and strength to continue child in school in New Jersey, Dr. Nahas enormous contributions. May he have his work. was alarmed to learn at a parents meeting many more years of happiness and health In years past, Mrs. Nahas recalled, Dr. that drug abuse was rising among students. to enjoy the love of his family and friends. Nahas’s opponents in the drug legalization Many years since his boyhood in movements not only sought to undermine Alexandria but now well equipped with his scientific findings, but also frequently several degrees in medicine and science, attacked him personally for his views. Dr. Nahas set out to investigate what he Time and modern research have vindicated described as the physiopathology of illicit Dr. Nahas and have more than fully drug use. As a trained pharmacologist and justified his early warnings about the medical doctor, his research findings DRUG WATCH WORLD NEWS - MARCH 2007 - Page 2 FIRE UP THE PREVENTION ENGINES! By Bobby Charles Buckle-up! As the political process ance for Model State Drug Laws' 2003 others – by our actions, not our intentions. gains wind speed in 2007, first with a new Study – all economics and wholly debunk- Fourth, be creative. Break some glass Democratically-controlled Congress and ing legalization – entitled "New Economic creatively. Seek to find anniversaries and then aspiring presidential candidates voic- Thinking on Addiction and Legalization: events worth a press conference; write ing their views for 2008, the time is right Toward Price Elasticities of Demand for small booklets and books that hold some- for all prevention advocates to take stock Addictive Substances and their Implica- one's attention; join blogs that matter and of where we are -- and then of what we tions for Public Policy." Get it, and use it, are read; press companies that interact need to do. It is time to fire up the preven- as it makes a non-political and non-moral with youth for action, in the spirit of such tion engines again! The top five list of to- case for why the route of legalization or longtime and successful warriors for the dos might look like this ... harm reduction is a dead end street. cause like Joyce Nalepka, who once re- First, make a new commitment to Remember that each member of Con- versed both McDonalds and Peoples Drug communicate with Congress. Why? Be- gress represents 600,000 Americans, of Stores by working her way to both com- cause many of the strong prevention advo- whom at least one fourth have likely been pany presidents.