Are drugs worse than alcohol?

To the Editor: I’m a bit confused. Let me see if I understand this correctly. Some are upset that two students, who were apparently forewarned that they would not be allowed to attend graduation should they consume alcohol at the school prom, were not permitted to do so, as school officials followed through with what they said they were going to do. The issue is not that three students were caught and arrested for cocaine possession and still allowed to attend graduation. Sure, there appears to be inconsistency in this decision and it doesn’t make any sense to me, either, why those students were allowed to participate, but that doesn’t absolve the two students caught using alcohol at the prom. For those who believe that “drugs are worse than alcohol,” here are a few facts that might change your mind. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 16,694 alcohol-related traffic fatalities occurred in 2004, or 39% of all traffic-related fatalities. Alcohol was thus a factor in nearly four of every 10 people killed in a traffic-related fatality in 2004 in the U.S. In New Jersey alone, 270 of 731 of all traffic-related fatalities, or 37%, involved alcohol. Alcohol-related crashes in New Jersey cost the public an estimated $2.5 billion in 2000, including $1.1 billion in monetary costs and almost $1.4 billion in quality of life losses. One-quarter of all emergency room admissions, one-third of all suicides, and more than half of all homicides and incidents of domestic violence are alcohol related. Heavy drinking contributes to illness in each of the top three causes of death: heart disease, cancer and stroke. Fetal alcohol syndrome is the leading known cause of mental retardation. Three times the number of Americans are addicted to alcohol than all other drugs combined. The problem isn’t that three students were permitted to attend graduation while two others were not. It isn’t that the high school administration was too tough on these two young men. The problem is that the public has come to the conclusion that alcohol is not a drug and its consumption by high school kids is not only acceptable, but encouraged. Just keep that in mind the next time you read about yet another 17-year-old involved in an alcohol-related fatality and then how the school is to blame for it because the student was coming home from his or her prom. Or you can read the very same Sparta Independent that ran the article about this issue and check out the “Law & Order” section. Three of the five reports involved alcohol-related accidents. Brian Maher Sparta