Pubdate: Mon, 15 Nov 1999 Source: San Luis Obispo County Tribune (CA) Copyright: 1999 The Tribune Contact: P.O. Box 112, San Luis Obispo, CA 93406-0112 Fax: 805.781.7905 Website: http://www.thetribunenews.com/ Author: Karen Burnett DRUGS DON'T CAUSE OBESITY Does cocaine make you fat? In his letter of Nov. 8, Martin Luschei states "fashionable Americans - too many of them fat - think using cocaine is harmless." Perhaps Mr. Luschei has found the solutions to America's drug problem. Just run TV ads showing all those obese junkies - and drug abuse is history! Or was he just indulging in a little gratuitous fat-people bashing? Yes, there is a growing problem of obesity in this country, but it's one we can't blame on drugs. Try blaming the multi-billion diet industry that continues to keep it a secret that DIETS MAKE YOU FAT (by reducing metabolism). If we taught our teen-agers to fear drugs as relentlessly as we teach them to fear even an healthy amount of body fat, Americans would stay a healthy size, and the Colombian drug lords would have to take up potato farming. Karen Burnett, Atascadero - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D