Sir. - The Fine Gael leader, Mr Noonan, is quoted as saying (The Irish Times, August 16th) that Ireland has a real problem with alcohol and drugs, and that adults are setting a very bad example to young people.
Is it possible that this bad example begins by making a clear distinction between the two? Suggesting that alcohol is somehow different from mind-bending drugs and must be put in a different category surely is the first step in confusing the issue, and deluding ourselves about the nature of what we are dealing with. Young people are not fooled. A drug is a drug is a drug, and they know it.
In Ireland or in the States, we won't deal with this problem effectively until we first begin to deal with it honestly. - Yours, etc.,
Bill McCarty, Friendsville, Pennsylvania, USA.