Letter to the Editor: Alcoholism

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Dear Editor,

On 9/14/05, I read an inaccurate article about alcoholism by Mark Jewell.

The truth is drug companies are trying to sell more drugs and replace potential lost revenues from the sale of the liquid drug of liquor companies. Of course, there is no drinking when you substitute one drug for another in pill form. Removing all addictions not changing them is the solution. The American Medical Association declared this a disease in 1956. Appropriate treatment is available without substituting one addiction for another.

My experience shows that drugs liquid, prescription, or street sources all effect the chemistry of the body the same--a drug, is a drug, is a drug. Alcoholism is the tip of the iceberg of deeper more complex medical problems of body and mind. To replace one drug with another does not make a person sober or rational.

In addition, 12-step programs are more than a behavioral treatment by addressing the roots and conditions of the disease instead of drugging the symptoms. It has worked for millions with out any cost to suffering people for seventy-five years. Let us remove the misinformation and encourage a solution that restores those suffering to health.

Marilyn Redmond
Edgewood, WA

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