SAVE THE MOST

Re: For their own protection, Dec. 28.

If columnist Licia Corbella's idea of jailing people with drug
problems is such a good idea, then it should be applied across the
board.

Alcohol wins all the prizes for causing problems in society. In the
United States, it is connected to half of all deaths from homicide,
auto accidents, fires, and drownings. It is related to about half of
all domestic abuse and about two-thirds of all sexual assaults on children.

It causes 100,000 deaths per year. In terms of deaths, it is rivaled
only by tobacco, which kills about 400,000 people per year.

On the other hand, all the illegal drugs combined kill about 10,000
per year.

If it is a good idea to jail people for their own good, then the first
place to start is to jail the abusers of alcohol and tobacco. By any
rational statistical measure that would save the most people from
their own bad behaviour.

Would Ms. Corbella think that we should jail everyone who has an
alcohol or tobacco problem, "for their own protection"? If not, why
not?

CLIFFORD SCHAFFER

Agua Dulce, California