Once again the alcohol industry whose influence and marketing fuels the public health problem of binge and underage drinking is given a pass and not included in solutions. Alcohol profits should be assessed to fund efforts to prevent binge and underage drinking and treat those who have succumbed to alcohol marketing messages that everyone should drink, no occasion is complete without alcohol and drinkers are young, hip, sexy, beautiful, fit and/or affluent. Between 12 and 20% of all the alcohol in the U.S. is consumed by 12-20 year olds netting the alcohol industry between $10 and $22 billion/year out of over $116 billion worth of US alcohol sales. The industry uses its vast resources and powerful lobbyists to influence alcohol policy. They scheme to deliberately and deceptively market alcohol to children and minors maximizing their profits by establishing brand loyalty early. Yet the cost of alcohol is cheaper than bottled water. Federal taxes on alcohol have increased once in 54 years for beer and wine and twice for liquor. Failure to increase alcohol taxes gives passive permission to the industry to continue to undermine public health policy. When are we going to hold the alcohol industry accountable? Kathleen Lippitt, MPH

Hey, how about this? Everytime the Alcohol producers, marketers and distributors come up with a new way to profit from suffering, they pay a tariff. It could be collected in a special trust used for only treatment of alcohol related problems. That way, they can cotribute to the aids of society as well as what ails society. Just a thought.