Falmouth Police Chief Anthony Riello is right: I never met anyone who started with heroin or crack, either ("Voters set to ponder legalized pot," Sept. 25). Most people started with alcohol.

The Centers for Disease Control reports that just behind tobacco use and poor eating and exercise habits, alcohol is the third leading cause of preventable deaths in the U.S. In 2001 approximately 75,000 people died from alcohol abuse, of whom over 40,000 died in alcohol-related car crashes.

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