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From: ray@rochester.ARPA (Ray Frank)
Newsgroups: talk.politics.misc,net.med
Subject: Re: Drug Abuse - True Problem or Media Hype?
Message-ID: <20810@rochester.ARPA>
Date: Mon, 15-Sep-86 08:13:41 EDT
Article-I.D.: rocheste.20810
Posted: Mon Sep 15 08:13:41 1986
Date-Received: Wed, 17-Sep-86 02:30:50 EDT
References: <720@scc.UUCP> <20756@rochester.ARPA> <463@epimass.UUCP>
Organization: U of Rochester, CS Dept., Rochester, NY
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Xref: linus talk.politics.misc:150 net.med:4593

In article <463@epimass.UUCP>, jbuck@epimass.UUCP (Joe Buck) writes:
> You're right, Ray.  A fairer comparison would be to legal, but
> harmful, drugs like tobacco (350,000 deaths a year) and alcohol
> (25,000 deaths in drunk driving wrecks alone).  Can you explain
> to me why cocaine use is worse for society than alcohol and tobacco
> use?
> 
Knowing how harmful legalizing drugs such as alcohol and tobacco has been, how
can you advocate legalizing still more harmful drugs into our society?
Haven't we learned anything from this?  I've been addicted to tobacco for
many years now.  If other controlled drugs had been legal 20 years ago, I 
could be addicted to those also.  As I said, I'm addicted to tobacco, but I'm
not ignorant nor insensitive enough to advocate the use of this horrible killer.
I became addicted when I was too young to realize the consequences, just as 
our young people today are doing drugs and not giving the consequences enough
thought.  Tobacco in general takes much longer to become addicting than a lot
of todays' popularly abused drugs.  By the time young kids realize the dangers
they could be addicted and then it is too late.

ray