Here are a few letters to the editor from today’s Washington Post in responses to my op-ed last week.

The letter from the Glynn Birch, MADD’s national president is rather revealing:

Taking away a teenager’s car keys and replacing them with a beer may prevent death and injury on the road, but it sends a dangerous message to teenagers that it’s okay to break the law.

From the horse’s lips. Birch concedes that these parties keep the roads safe, yet he opposes them anyway because he opposes underage drinking. So not only has MADD’s mission changed from keeping the roads safe to preventing consumption of alcohol, they’ll support a position that cuts down on the latter even when it increases the likelihood of drunk driving fatalities.

Over in the Hit & Run comments, someone noted with amusement that the president of MADD is a man, so he’s obviously not a mother. The group isn’t just opposed to “drunks,” they’re opposed to drinking. And the “driving” has long become irrelevant, too. Which leaves “Against.” That sounds about right. Not just for MADD, but for the overwhelming majority of the public health movement.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 15th, 2005 at 7:03 am by Radley Balko and is filed under Alcohol, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.