Alcohol - A Taboo Target

Alcohol - A Taboo Target

Dear Editor:

Thanks for daring to raise the question that is generally taboo in our society. Without dispute, alcohol is the drug of choice for millions of Americans.

I have personally seen the destructive impact of alcohol on loved ones. I once happened upon a wreck where a drunken driver killed a mother and her baby. Another family of friends lost their wife and mother to a drunk - driving on the wrong side of the interstate. She left a husband and five children.

While alcohol should be viewed as an addictive drug with a massive destructive impact on our society, this will not happen in our generation for at least five reasons:

1. Alcohol is in the cabinet of most politicians and people of power.

2. Most folks of the media enjoy its use.

3. The alcohol beverage industry has one of the most powerful lobbies in the nation.

4. Many of the major religious denominations subscribe to the current social approval of alcohol.

5. Our society has been conditioned to view alcohol abuse as an illness which the abusers cannot control.

Who would be found to propose, much less lead in an effort to contain or control this addictive, destructive drug? We will just continue to play the game of condemning the narcotic drugs while excusing, endorsing and taxing the bottled drug of choice.

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