Pill

Re "Reno Launches Drive Against 'Date Rape Drugs,' " Aug. 12: Please let us urge Atty. Gen. Janet Reno to require the drug manufacturer to put some kind of dye in this pill. If it is tasteless and colorless, this is the area to attack. The drug is necessary for people preparing for surgery, but if they just swallow it with water, what difference if the drug has dye or a strong, pleasant flavor? If the pill, when dropped in a drink, gave off a bright color of any concentrated food coloring (purple, blue, green)

I question the validity of the statement that low-tar cigarettes are just as unhealthy as high-tar cigarettes ["'Light' Cigarettes Don't Cut Health Risks, Study Says," Nov. 28]. If this logic were valid, then one sleeping pill would be as deadly as 100 sleeping pills! Also, how does one inhale "more deeply?" Either one inhales all the way into the lungs, or one doesn't. Lee Wade South Gate

Government regulators said the connection between Pfizer's anti-smoking drug Chantix and serious psychiatric problems is "increasingly likely." The Food and Drug Administration said it has received reports of 37 suicides and more than 400 of suicidal behavior in connection with the drug. In November, the agency began investigating reports of depression, agitation and suicidal behavior among patients taking the popular twice-daily pill.

Former Olympic ice dancer Pasha Grishuk was drugged with the so-called date-rape drug GHB during a business meeting at a resort hotel but was able to seek help after spotting a pill in her drink, an Orange County sheriff's spokesman said Tuesday. Grishuk, 36, who won two Olympic gold medals for Russia in the 1990s, was at the St. Regis Monarch Beach on April 12 when she began to feel ill and numb, said sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino. Grishuk was at a meeting with at least one man and first had a drink in a lounge while waiting for a table, Amormino said.

Barnes & Noble Inc.'s shareholders voted to keep Chairman Leonard Riggio on the board of the company he founded, rejecting an attempt at his ouster by Ron Burkle's Yucaipa Cos. to shake up the largest U.S. bookstore chain. Riggio, the biggest shareholder, was re-elected to the nine-member board with less than 50 percent of votes cast, Yucaipa said in a statement. The slate from Yucaipa, the second- largest holder, included Burkle. The vote caps more than a year of Burkle and Riggio clashing over the company's direction as the chain tries to keep its 700 superstores profitable amid growing popularity of digital books and online sales.

Re "Plan B Pill Cleared for Sale Over the Counter," Aug. 25 Bittersweet. It's a good word to describe the Food and Drug Administration's approval of the controversial contraceptive pill, Plan B. The sweet part is the fact that, after nearly a three-year delay, a decision to allow the drug's sale is finally here. But the compromise -- that Plan B will only be sold over the counter to women 18 or older -- isn't a complete victory. It's worth noting that there are those who will be left behind.

Disney Adopts Anti-Takeover Defense: Burbank-based Walt Disney Co. adopted a "poison pill" anti-takeover defense but said it didn't know of any effort to buy the company. The plan adopted by Disney's board of directors would entitle present stockholders to buy new stock at half price in the event of a hostile takeover attempt. Such plans are dubbed poison pills because they dilute the holdings of a potential buyer, making a buyout without management consent prohibitively expensive.