Aim Some Drug Fervor at Alcohol

It is very disheartening to read that Judge James P. Gray takes such a misguided position regarding drug use (“ACLU Backers Cheer Judge’s Drug Proposal,” June 15). He might as well say: “Since we are having no success in stopping child abuse, let’s allow it under controlled conditions. For a nominal fee, the government can provide child-abusing centers, perhaps staffed by medical people so things don’t get out of hand. . . .”

If something is wrong, it is wrong, and society has to take a stand against it, no matter how we seem to be failing.

Of course the war on drugs is failing. And it will continue to fail as long as we condone the aggressive promotion and hypocrisy surrounding the worst-case drug: alcohol.

Surely in his capacity as a Superior Court judge, Gray is aware that drug addicts are defined first and last by their alcohol use. Show us an addict who didn’t arrive at his or her current drug experience through the highly sanctioned and legal gateway of beer. Drug statistics pale in comparison to alcohol statistics. The liquor industry, however well protected it is from both criticism and responsibility, is still the biggest drug pusher in the country.

It’s a shame that Judge Gray is not directing his intelligence, energy and judicial position toward controlling alcohol.

One 74-year-old woman at Judge Gray’s pro-drug picnic was quoted as favoring legalization because she “remembers the bad old days of Prohibition.” Obviously, her memory is playing tricks on her, or she was too young at the time (14), because even a cursory reading of Prohibition literature will show what a beneficial effect it had on society. The myth of its failure is a deceptive and damaging one. The only failure with Prohibition was that it was not permitted to continue.

The alcohol situation has gone beyond stupidity. We need strong anti-drug voices and action. We need people like Judge Gray pointing out the right, not the wrong, direction.

M. POWER GIACOLETTI, Lake Forest