Alcohol's mainstay

Thank you for the editorial ``Alcohol and the Soft Sell,'' Feb 17.

I work with wonderful young people mostly in their late teens and early 20s in a post-secondary school. We have found that beer and other types of alcohol are at the root of domestic violence, teenage pregnancy, accidents, and failure in school; they are also the reason many people lose their jobs or are unable to work steadily and dependably. Over and over again we've seen drinking beer lead to drinking other types of alcohol.

The beer industry said recently that it is not a perfect industry. From my day-to-day experience of dealing with how alcohol affects young people, I can honestly say that this industry is a main factor in the breakdown of lives and society. Beverly Lyle, Phoenix, Ariz.

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