Oakland Tribune – Published Letter To The Editor

Controlling drinking

NOW THAT the government has appropriately mandated graphic warning labels for cigarette packaging, can we expect similar appropriate warnings on alcohol packaging?

If a six-pack of beer or a bottle of liquor came with a photograph of a DUI death victim, side-by-side photos of healthy and alcohol-damaged livers, an accurate recitation of alcohol-related crime statistics, and/or some accounting of the enormous social and societal costs of alcohol addiction, perhaps Americans would make better choices when it comes to the frequency

http://www.insidebayarea.com/opinion/letterstotheeditor/tribune/ci_18362394

and volume of alcohol consumption.

As a lawyer, in practice for 30 years as both a criminal prosecutor and defense attorney, I note that 80 percent of the cases I have handled involve the drinking of alcohol.

Any attempt to get crime under control will necessarily require getting drinking under control. A bit of public education is long past overdue.

Louis J. Goodman

Hayward