Helping Hands

"MILTOWN? NO MARTINIS!" "Happy Pills Plus Joy Juice; Pack Faster, Bigger Wallop"--These headlines, one from Time magazine one from the New York World Telegram, marked the report by the California Alcoholic Rehabilitation Commission on research carried out at the Langley Porter Neuropsychiatric Clinic of the University of California in Francisco about the effects of combining tranquilizers and alcohol. The interim report revealed that in combination, the effects on both chronic hard drinkers and less veteran imbibers alike, were "bizarre." By blood tests the researchers found that the action of the drugs not only accentuated the effects of alcohol but actually contributed toward boosting the amount of alcohol circulating In the blood and had altered, the chemical processes by which the body breaks down alcohol. The three physicians reporting concluded. "This finding makes it imperative for the millions of persons taking tranquilizing drugs. . .to be careful of their drinking when they are driving or around potentially dangerous machinery."