I agree with every one of you - what is not to agree with!- but I really truly wish one could stop it at the source. By that, I do NOT mean prohibition- but somehow to stop kids from starting. If a family that has gotten sober somehow got it across to their kids that, being high-risk, they should never take that first drink...?

Last year I interviewed 28 homeless people in a project that had been set me, and I'll never forget the wonderment on one man's face when he said that one of his sisters "had never drunk", that his dad drank and his mother drank and his other sisters and brothers drank but not this sister. His expression was somewhere between admiration and noncomprehension.

In Alaska, where I live, there is a very high rate of alcoholism and some people say they got drunk the first time at age 9. One man told me that he was under seven when he got into the adults' stash and his dad laughed and laughed and thought his staggering around was so cute.

Poverty in all its ills, I agree, is a potent factor - but we have people here who are not particularly poor. About a third of our tenants are on assisted housing vouchers but the others are working and have steady paychecks. There doesn't seem to be a significant difference in the incidence of addiction.


The only frame of reference I have is knowing how difficult it was for me to stop smoking, and the fact that I didn't succeed in stopping until I recognized that I was ready.