‘Where’s the War Against the Legal Killer, Alcohol?’

The column by Judith Paterson (“Where’s the War Against the Legal Killer, Alcohol?” Op-Ed Page, May 18) struck a chord with me. Yes, alcohol is a legal drug, and its abuse and addiction by millions of Americans constitutes a real tragedy for our country.

The enumerated costs of this abuse, in dollars and lives, should have a sobering effect on those who read about it and truly let it sink in. Alcohol is the modern-day scourge, more so than heroine or cocaine. Don’t believe me, just look at the record.

I do take exception to Paterson’s labeling of alcoholism as a disease. This amounts to a cop-out, an excuse that alcohol abuse cannot be controlled or given up by certain types of individuals. If we believe this to be a valid premise, then we should, by the same line of reasoning, say that any drug abuse is a disease. Like alcoholics who will not or cannot quit, heroine and cocaine addicts are caught up in their own hell, unwilling or unable to overcome their drug dependencies.

Let us not excuse alcoholism as a disease. It is a willful act by sane, intelligent individuals who prefer to have their minds altered by the effects of alcohol, and who want the high or the oblivion that alcohol produces.

What’s the answer? I wish I knew. The only solution that is irrefutable is abstinence. Easier said than done, but no excuses for alcoholism. It doesn’t deserve it.

HAIG HAYDOSTIAN

Northridge