Letter: Tobacco companies could use fair, equal treatment

Saturday, May 2, 1998 | 4:33 a.m.

Our history in the area of morality legislation is dismal. Earlier in the century, Congress decided that alcohol was the root of all evil. It passed an amendment to the Constitution declaring alcohol a prohibited substance.

This well-thought-out amendment produced the likes of Al Capone and his cronies. A legal product which was taxed (producing revenue to the government) was produced illegally (producing no revenue to the government) after the amendment was passed.

Did it stop the public from drinking alcohol? We know that it did not. The amendment which made alcohol illegal required another amendment to the Constitution to do away with the previous amendment.

I beg Congress and all other legislative bodies to consider the cost that the millions of alcohol drinkers add to Medicare. Additionally, I beg Congress and all other legislative bodies to answer the question: Is it more morally correct to drink alcohol (because more people do so) than it is to smoke tobacco products?

How many people are killed each year by drunken drivers? How many are injured by drunken drivers and require extended medical or rehabilitative care? How many jails and prisons are filled with persons convicted of driving under the influence of alcohol vs. those who smoke legal tobacco products?

The distillers and brewers of alcoholic beverages know that alcohol is an addictive substance. However, do we hear that reported in the newspaper or on radio and television? Do minors still find ways to purchase and drink alcoholic beverages? We know the answer is that they do.

Do minors kill people while driving under the influence? Again, we know that they do.

The tobacco companies have offered $500 billion to settle lawsuits and reduce the costs to Medicare. Have the distillers and brewers of alcoholic beverages made the same offer to our government? We know they have not.

America was founded on the principle of fair and equal treatment under the law. I question if the tobacco companies are being treated fairly and equally under those laws.

Wendy M. Butler