MORE DANGEROUS THAN HEROIN

I enjoy a beer now and then, and I wish beer lobbyist David Rehr no ill.
However, his assertion that drinking beer is far different from injecting
heroin ["Beer Lobby Keeps Anti-Drug Drive Alcohol-Free," news story, July
23] should not go unchallenged.

Unlike heroin, alcohol is quite neurotoxic, and long-term alcohol abuse
leads to brain and central nervous system damage. Alcohol abuse also can
cause high blood pressure, heart damage and strokes, and it increases the
risk of several cancers. Alcohol dependence is a true addiction, and alcohol
withdrawal is considerably more medically complex than opiate withdrawal.
Both heroin and alcohol are dangerous drugs, but a good case can be made
that alcohol is the more dangerous of the two by a considerable margin.

Mark Mcdonough, Reston