WRONG MESSAGE TO CHILDREN

To the Editor:

Re "Plan to Include Alcohol in Anti-Drug Ads Is Resisted" (news article, May
31): Might not the refusal of anti-drug groups to include alcohol-related
messages in their ads lead young people to conclude that alcohol is
relatively benign?

Alcohol is responsible for more deaths in the United States each year than
cocaine and heroin combined.

Addiction treatment professionals know that alcohol will adversely affect
more young people than "hard drugs." Only those who make policy at their
desks, oblivious to the facts of life on the street, would
object to the inclusion of alcohol in substance abuse prevention efforts.

Harvey Weiner, Wynnewood, Pa.

June 1, 1999

The writer is a clinical associate professor of psychiatry at MCP Hahnemann
University.