It remains a curiosity as to why modern American culture considers cigarette smoking to be morally despicable and yet hardly reacts to irresponsible alcohol marketing.

This contradiction becomes especially curious when the public becomes outraged at cigarette ads directed at young people but remains strangely unmoved by alcohol marketing that does the same thing.

Consider how chocolate-flavored cigarettes, introduced a few years ago, causes a virtually universal revulsion among any who hear of it, and yet how so-called "alco-pops" have found their way onto store shelves with little notice.

Alco-pops can take many forms, from "hard" lemonade to spiked energy drinks to fruit-flavored blends. State lawmakers soon will be considering a bill to take these malt beverages off store shelves and allow their sale only in state-owned liquor stores. The measure already has the support of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (which owns this newspaper), the attorney general and the Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission. That's no wonder. It makes a lot of sense.

The cigarette and alcohol industries both rely on young users to prop up sales. Statistics have consistently shown that people who enter adulthood without trying these substances tend to avoid them for life. Older people are far less likely to develop dependencies. The U.S. Department of Health Web site reports that "people tend to drink the heaviest in their late teens and early to mid-20s." At those ages, people also tend to binge drink. Unfortunately, alcohol causes more physical harm to drinkers in those developmental years than it would later on.

Clearly, alco-pops are aimed at young taste buds. The industry may say it targets people 21 and older, but the flavors are just as appealing to those who are younger. In 2002, a study at Georgetown University found that under-aged youths were exposed to 65 percent more ads for low-alcohol "refresher" drinks than were adults. The strategy is clear.

Yes, parents have an enormous influence over whether their teenage children drink. But availability also drives consumption. An under-aged consumer is more likely to try his or her luck at buying a low-alcohol malt beverage from a grocery store than to venture into a liquor store for the same purpose. Meanwhile, the proposed legislation would allow responsible adults to still have access to the drinks if they desire them.