ALCOHOL CONTROL EXAMPLE FOR METH

If Heather Rector (Jan. 9) is concerned about people on drugs harming her
or others, then she ought to be worried about alcohol, not methamphetamine.
Alcohol wins all the prizes for dangers in society by a margin of about 10
to one over all the illegal drugs combined.

Alcohol is associated with half of all deaths from homicide, auto
accidents, fires and drowning, about half of all domestic abuse and
two-thirds of all sexual assaults on children. None of the illegal drugs
even come close.

If any drug is going to be banned because it is a danger to society, then
the obvious first choice is alcohol. But we tried that, and we proved
conclusively that, as bad as alcohol is, prohibition only made things worse.

If Heather Rector wants more information, she can find a wealth of research
on the effects of prohibition at http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer.

Clifford Schaffer

Agua Dulce, Calif.