To the editors:
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If your calendar editor wishes to be equitable, he could comment not only on the Benson and Hedges Blues Festival [October 12] but on the Prix de Martel, “sponsored by the substance implicated in 75% of the domestic violence in this country”; or the numerous events brought to you by the beer companies, “purveyors of the agent responsible for more teen deaths than anything except suicide.”
Alcohol is both lethal and legal; the same is true of tobacco. It would be refreshing to encounter reportage which recognizes this equivalence. No one would think of treating an alcohol addict with the smug contempt routinely applied to nicotine addicts. Your editorial stance merely encourages people to continue to congratulate themselves on their ignorance and bad manners.
