[Vision2020] Alcohol kills 6½ times more youth than all other illicit drugs combined.

[Tbertruss at aol.com]

All:

While looking for info on medical cannabis issues, I came across a rather 
startling fact that, if true, should give anyone pause regarding our cultures 
emphasis on what drugs we prosecute and scapegoat for their nefarious effects.  
Of course the fact below really is no surprise given our cultures endorsement 
of and caviler acceptance of alcohol across all segments of our society.  What 
is shocking, and seems to fly under the radar by some miracle of denial and 
rationalization that would baffle any psychiatrist were our society a patient 
under care for minimizing blatantly self destructive behaviors, is the lack of 
seriousness of actual legal penalties for breaking the laws regarding supplying 
alcohol to minors.

http://www.gdcada.org/statistics/teens.htm

Alcohol kills 6½ times more youth than all other illicit drugs combined.

If this fact is true, and I do not doubt that even if it is not the exactly 
correct figure, it does reflect for the most part the relative magnitude of the 
damage alcohol does to young people compared to other drugs, how do the 
penalties of the legal system for supplying alcohol to minors match up with this 
reality compared to the penalties enforced for other drugs?  Alcohol is illegal 
for minors, yet it seems those involved in supplying alcohol to minors, 
connected to killing 6.5 times more youth than all illegal drugs combined, who get 
caught, get a slap on the wrist, relatively speaking.

Are the penalties for supplying alcohol to minors reflective of a rational 
approach to enforcing drug laws, given the magnitude of the harm done to youth 
by alcohol?  Does the widespread acceptance of alcohol use by the mainstream 
culture who control the police, the courts and the government lead to a 
favorable status, relative to the penalties enforced for those who supply many other 
illegal drugs, for those who violate laws when they supply alcohol to minors?

Ted Moffett
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