In her recent letter, Dr. Bernadette Solounias correctly observes that heroin addiction has grown to epidemic proportions ("Heroin addiction can be treated," Dec. 16). And cigarettes and other tobacco products are addictive, powerful, chronic and potentially fatal, too. The latest medical evidence has shown that addicts benefit in their treatment and recovery from heroin and other substances when they cease their use of tobacco.
Addiction is a disease of the brain. You receive treatment and successfully recover from alcohol or drugs but subsequently suffer and die from tobacco use. So why in this modern, enlightened age do many treatment centers still welcome or allow tobacco use?
W. Pitts