Pubdate: Fri, 10 Feb 2006
Source: Berkshire Eagle, The (Pittsfield, MA)
Contact:  http://www.berkshireeagle.com/
Address: PO Box 1171, Pittsfield, MA 01202
Fax: (413) 499-3419
Copyright: 2006 New England Newspapers, Inc
Author:  Jenny Gitlitz
Referenced:  http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n150/a02.html
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?228 (Paraphernalia)
Related: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n817/a06.html?283982

BIGGER ISSUES THAN AWOL DEVICE

In the Feb. 5 story about the "pro-active" ban on the inhalable AWOL 
(alcohol without liquid) device, state Rep. "Smitty" Pignatelli 
explained his support of  the ban because the machine "create(s) a 
quicker way to get drunk" by allowing  the alcohol to get directly 
into the bloodstream through the lungs.

Yet according to the reporter's description of the device, the 
machine takes 20 minutes to deliver an alcohol mist equivalent to one 
shot of liquor.

Anyone  seen college students drinking lately? Know how quickly they 
down shots? My brother recently confided that he had 21 shots, plus 
beer chasers, to celebrate  his 21st birthday. He could have died. 
(Had I been near enough to do it, I would  have strangled him 
myself.) Had he tried to consume the equivalent through the AWOL, it 
would have taken him about seven hours - not counting the chasers. It 
almost seems like someone should be promoting the AWOL and sponsoring 
a ban on shot glasses.

When asked why he doesn't support a ban on cigarettes, Pignatelli 
said, "There is just too much money involved, I mean in society, not 
just  politically."

OK. We get that he's downplaying the benefits the tobacco 
lobby  bestows on lawmakers. But money "in society"? R.J. Reynolds 
reported that  Massachusetts reaped $494 million in excise and sales 
tax revenue from cigarette  sales in 2004. Nice chunk of change.

And on the other side of the ledger? According to the Centers for 
Disease Control (CDC), smoking attributable medical and productivity 
costs in Massachusetts were $14.05 per pack in 2002. Multiply that by 
the approximately  300 million packs sold to get $5 billion in total 
direct costs to society.  That's 10 times more than the state reaped 
in revenues. Medicaid ("the  taxpayer") covers 20 percent of the 
medical costs; the remainder simply jacks up  our health insurance premiums.

Then there's the misery. According to the CDC, 9,016 Massachusetts 
deaths were attributed to smoking in 2002. Of youths now in 9th-12th 
grade, 114,164 are projected to die from smoking. Surely that price 
is too high just to keep North  Carolina and Virginia tobacco farmers 
- - or Massachusetts convenience store  owners - in business.

The proposed AWOL ban, which faces no political opposition, is an 
easy win. It's much more difficult to take on the tobacco and alcohol 
lobbies. While the AWOL's potential to harm is still hypothetical, 
smoking and binge drinking are  already causing well-documented 
destruction across the commonwealth. Isn't that  where our 
politicians should be exerting their political energy and media  capital?
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman