Alcoholism

I find it rather amusing--as a recovering alcoholic myself--that people are all in a tizzy over Joseph Hazelwood being in command of the Exxon Valdez when he had a history of alcoholism, yet John Tower was approved by all the Republican members of the Senate committee.

A person with a history of drinking problems can run the whole Defense Department yet President Bush lets no photo op go by to rail against a more trendy “cause,” the drug problem in the United States.

If half the attention paid to the drug problem was paid to the problem of alcoholism in this country, we might cut down on the tragedies that result from the abuse of alcohol. Of course, that may be a more sensitive area to senators and congressmen with their own drinking problems than the safer stance of pointing fingers at inner-city gang members with cocaine problems.

LINDA COWAN MOSE

Sherman Oaks