Sir,
It is good that a public-minded person points out the damage done by alcohol abuse (PM 23/05), but I cannot fathom out why anyone has to bring smoking into the picture as there is no logical connection. One might as well compare alcoholism with malaria, which kills even more innocent people, or amphetamines, for example, which are taken by many drivers and undoubtedly kill innocent people.
The real difference is that most people who drink alcoholic beverages imbibe reasonable amounts and do no harm to anyone. It is only the abuse of alcohol that is damaging; as is the abuse of drugs or gambling. Even one puff of a cigarette damages the delicate tissues of the lung and almost all smoking causes harm to everyone in the vicinity.
Jesus Christ drank alcohol and it is claimed that when everyone had drunk all the wine available miraculously conjured up some more! One can’t help wondering if he approved of occasional drunkeness? At least a drunken chariot driver would have been a lot less dangerous than a drunken car driver. It is natural and normal to drink but completely unnatural and abnormal to smoke.
Dr. M
