ALCOHOL AS DRUG IGNORED

To the editor:

Thank you for publishing Dr. Stephan Arndt's letter (April 18, "Corrects
THC numbers"). I read the original article,"The seductive allure of pot and
alcohol" (April 6), online at the Media Awareness Project Web site.

Another element that is absurd is the fact that there were no broad-based,
credible studies of the THC content of cannabis in the '60s and '70s. When
Dr. Arndt mentions the irreparable harm done once credibility is
compromised, DEA-land's anti-drug, public service television ad campaign
comes to mind.

The financially and politically influential alcohol lobby successfully
opposes the inclusion of alcohol in the government's anti-drug ad campaign
and in doing so, perpetuates the ignorance that kills our children.

I would add that the anti-drug ad campaign begins to look extremely stupid
when one realizes that the very, very expensive ad campaign that ignores
alcohol - which kills more people than all illegal substances combined -
concentrates on cannabis, which has no lethal dose and whose
pharmacological effects have not caused a single death in over 5,000 years.

Once people (children?) realize they've been lied to about cannabis, they
figure they were also lied to when they were told that heroin and speed and
inhalants and alcohol are very addictive or deadly or both.

Myron Von Hollingsworth Fort Worth, Texas