Pubdate: Sun, 20 May 2001 Source: Helsingin Sanomat International Edition (Finland) Copyright: 2001 2000 Helsingin Sanomat Contact: http://www.helsinki-hs.net/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1158 TOP HEALTH OFFICIAL REGRETS STATEMENTS ON PAST USE OF LSD Director-General Taipale Apologises At Press Conference Vappu Taipale, the Director-General of STAKES, the National Research and Development Centre for Welfare and Health, says that she "deeply regrets" press statements that she made last week concerning her experiments with the hallucinogenic drug LSD as a student. Taipale issued a statement and held a press conference on the issue on Monday. At her press conference Taipale said that she wanted to express remorse and apologise to everyone who had been hurt by what she had said and whose work she had made more difficult. Taipale said that in recent days she had been contacted by many people working in connection with the drug problem. She said that the contacts, and the controversy, show that Finns are concerned with the drug issue. "Never, under any circumstances, will I recommend that anyone use intoxicants", she said. The controversy arose from an interview with the late-edition tabloid newspaper Ilta Sanomat last week, in which Taipale had spoken of her experiments with LSD in a positive tone. She had taken the hallucinogen as a medical student in the 1960s at a time when LSD was not an illegal drug, but was being used experimentally in the treatment of mental illness. Ilta Sanomat had gotten the idea for the interview from an earlier interview in the Helsinki student newspaper Ylioppilaslehti which appeared in late April. In that interview Taipale had spoken about her student days. She was asked if she ever felt that she was partying too much as a student. On the question of intoxicants, she said "I did become acquainted with wines, beer, and even LSD." At the press conference Taipale characterised her remarks as careless and stupid. She also said that she could not defend them. "I certainly should have anticipated it", Taipale said when asked if she knew what kind of controversy would arise from her statements. A number of Finnish Members of Parliament submitted three written questions to Finland's Minister of Social Services Osmo Soininvaara (Green) asking about Taipale's status after the statements. Already on Friday Soininvaara said that the questions amounted to a "lynching mentality". "I will answer that this is no reason to remove anyone", Soininvaara said to Helsingin Sanomat. Soininvaara had discussed the issue with Taipale the day before. At Monday's press conference Taipale said that she hoped that "there would be use for her services in spite of the blunder". Responding to a journalist's question, she would not say directly which problem is worse in Finland, drugs or alcohol. "Alcohol is a much more extensive problem. It has totally saturated our society. The drug problem is new, and people don't know it very well. Therefore it is more difficult", she said. - --- MAP posted-by: Josh Sutcliffe