Comparing Cigarettes and Other Drugs

The Times (Metro, Nov. 15), in an article on the 14th annual Great American Smokeout, quotes Katie Row, spokeswoman for the American Cancer Society’s Central Los Angeles Chapter, on smoking cigarettes, “It’s not like drinkers drinking or drug users taking drugs. When people smoke, they injure the people around them.”

When people drink they hurt themselves and the people around them. About 50,000 people die each year in alcohol-related car accidents alone. Fortunately, illegal drugs kill far fewer each year than either cigarettes (390,000) or alcohol (125,000-plus). Cocaine kills about 2,500, heroin about 750 and marijuana none.

A drug’s danger, as defined by human casualty statistics, should determine society’s penalties (taxes, higher insurance premiums, user fees, etc.) for using that drug. Given that tobacco causes the greatest damage to our society in terms of both lives and dollars, and given that no one believes that tobacco users should be incarcerated or have assets seized and forfeited, it is a logical extension that users of other drugs (including alcohol, the second most costly drug), all less damaging, should not be incarcerated either.

All drug users should have immediate access to treatment without fear of civil or criminal penalties.

EARNEST SANDERS

Westwood