Does anyone else see the contradictory message in the commercials for alcoholic beverages? The ones where there are about 40 people who look to young but drinking anyway, partying in a subway car. Then in tiny letters at the bottom of the television screen, barely legible, the people who distribute the product so thoughtfully print, “Please drink responsibly.”

I don’t think people take alcoholism as seriously as they do other forms of addiction. Why is it that tobacco companies aren’t allowed to show cigarette ads on television or at sporting events but beer, wine and other alcoholic drinks are widely promoted on billboards, at the Superbowl and on network television? Is alcohol any less addictive then nicotine?

Why, when it comes to treating people with alcoholism, the path is trodden very carefully, as if preventing alcoholism isn’t important. The government spends a lot more time raising the prices of cigarettes and chewing tobacco than it does beer or hard liquor. Yet more teenagers die from drinking each year than smoking. What’s it going to take to get people to open their eyes?

Miranda J. Cote

Exeter