THE OTHER 'GATEWAY' DRUG IS FAR RISKIER, BUT LEGAL

Falmouth Police Chief Anthony Riello is right: I never met anyone who
started with heroin or crack, either ("Voters set to ponder legalized pot,"
Sept. 25). Most people started with alcohol.

The Centers for Disease Control reports that just behind tobacco use and
poor eating and exercise habits, alcohol is the third leading cause of
preventable deaths in the U.S. In 2001 approximately 75,000 people died
from alcohol abuse, of whom over 40,000 died in alcohol-related car crashes.

Many studies conclude marijuana leads to other, more serious, drug use;
alcohol has done the same thing. So let's not distort the facts: Alcohol is
also a gateway to drug use. I am sure the studies involving drug use would
show alcohol was the first "drug." Alcohol is a greater problem than marijuana.

Alcohol is legal, yet countless families have been destroyed because of it.
But for the power of the alcohol industry and the tax revenue it generates,
it remains legal. I am pretty sure people don't drink alcohol just to
quench their thirst.

The legalization of marijuana is the prudent thing to do.

David Cooperrider

Marstons Mills