Alcohol, tobacco and teenagers

First of all, I have two things to admit: I am a happily recovering alcoholic and I have been smoking for 60 years. What's bothering me most is that the government is trying to claim that the tobacco companies are luring teenagers. Where on earth are all these ads, since they killed Joe Camel?

Alcohol. When all sorts of seductive beverages have commercials on television, sometimes followed by a "drink responsibly" tag line, and most sporting events are sponsored by one beer or another, doesn't the government think that they are encouraging teenage drinking? My kids, when they were in high school, used to tell me that half the student body was drunk before noon. The parents' comment was always, "at least it's not drugs." Bull! Alcohol is a drug! A deadly drug in the hands of prom-going teens.

Smoking all these years has only meant that I am possibly hurting myself. I don't smoke in anybody's car, house, or presence. I am not subjecting anybody to mythically dangerous second-hand smoke. None of my kids even smokes.

But it's hard, especially for a former drinker, to see all these alcohol ads, taunting everybody to just taste. Does anybody think that kids don't see the "Budweiser" signs in the football and baseball stadia? Why aren't we prohibiting alcohol ads the way we did cigarette ads? More people are killed by drunk drivers year in and year out than are killed by second-hand smoke.


One of the answers is that I come from a state that produces a lot of alcoholic beverages. What? Impose a tax on the snowmobilers who drive 90 mph to get to the next bar? No way. It's really sad to me that we haven't the sense to stop this madness.

Muthah