TO THE EDITOR:
Remember the first time you touched a hot stove? You probably learned pretty quickly that it was a bad idea. But did your mother have the stove removed from the house after you burned your hand and thereafter cook everything by microwave? Granted, my analogy is a bit of a stretch, but I think it adequately describes the asinine nature of the Four Loko debate.
Four Loko and its ilk should absolutely not be banned, as suggested in Tuesday’s letter (“Four Loko is dangerous, sale should be banned”). First of all, there’s the obvious: banning caffeinated alcoholic drinks won’t stop me from going to the bar and getting a Red Bull vodka, Jack and Coke, or any one of the innumerable combinations of alcoholic and caffeinated drinks already available. More insidious, though, is the way in which this debate reflects the terror experienced by our society when faced with (gasp) personal responsibility. People should be allowed to learn from their own mistakes. How else would you learn not to touch a hot stove?
The reason people inevitably drink to excess when they drink Four Loko is that the only reason they would drink that awful stuff is because they want to drink to excess. If such a decision proves to have deleterious consequences, so be it. Nobody is holding guns to peoples’ heads forcing them to drink Four Loko. Let them figure things out on their own for once.
Bill Odette
Junior
Chemistry
