I applaud the Globe and Stat for publishing Dr. Luis E. Seija’s powerful opinion piece on the largely ignored or dismissed dangers of America’s alcohol culture (“Surgeon general is right: America has a drinking problem,” Opinion, Jan. 7). If we accept Seija’s premise that America has a problem, it makes sense to look for a solution.
I write in advocacy of one such solution: SMART Recovery. SMART is the leading alternative to the traditional 12-step stalwart, Alcoholics Anonymous. It is a science-based program that vigorously promotes a secular message of self-empowerment and self-management. Working in alignment with the principles of cognitive and rational emotive behavioral therapy, SMART’s program has consistently and reliably delivered results for people seeking to meet the possibilities of their own life through committed, sustained recovery. I’ve seen firsthand its ability to move lives forward. One of those lives is my own.
There are few things more unsettling than to witness people leading self-diminished lives as a result of alcohol use disorder. People need not wait until Dry January to rethink their relationship with alcohol. They can do so at any point during the year. Indeed, there’s one thing that many of us have long known: There’s never a bad time to get SMART and get sober.
Michael J. DiStefano
Jamestown, R.I.
The writer is the senior New England facilitator for SMART Recovery and runs weekly recovery meetings in Warwick, R.I.
Why stop at taxing tobacco and alcohol? Next order of business: fossil fuels.
Luis E. Seija’s op-ed, “Surgeon general is right: America has a drinking problem,” cites our success in reducing tobacco consumption, and that success was at least partly driven by higher taxation. Seija promotes higher taxation of alcohol, and I agree. It’s an economic fact that the more we have to pay for something, the less likely we are to consume it.
If we’re going to tax things that are bad for us, why stop at alcohol and tobacco? Burning of fossil fuels releases greenhouse gases into the atmosphere and contributes to global warming, leading to health risks for humans.
Plastics are made from fossil fuels and therefore also contribute to global warming. Styrene, which is used to make plastics, is recognized as carcinogenic by the International Agency for Research on Cancer. Plastics are difficult and expensive to recycle, so they wind up in landfills or are incinerated, polluting our environment and disrupting the marine food chain and contaminating our food supply. Yet production of plastics continues to grow exponentially every year.
When I consume alcohol, assuming I drink responsibly, the harm I do is primarily to myself. When I consume single-use plastics, I harm every living thing on the planet.
Taxation of fossil fuels at the source would lead to reduced use of fossil fuels and would improve our health outlook.
Jim Whalen
Hudson
Source link : https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/01/09/opinion/letters-to-the-editor-americas-drinking-problem-health-risks/
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Publish date : 2025-01-08 18:30:00
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