[reverend_gonzo]

Alcohol has a non-trivial chance of making someone completely addicted to it, along with side effects that can ruin the lives of bystanders.

Does that mean no one should ever take alcohol as well?

The world is not black and white.

[codewithcheese]

Doctors should not prescribe alcohol. From a health and safety point of view, yes one should not consumer alcohol.

[xkcd-sucks]

Ethanol is the safest, cheapest, and best-studied intervention for acute methanol poisoning though

[yebyen]

I don't think this is relevant to the reason why most people are using ethanol, though... or most of the people using Ambien for that matter, at least is the impression I get from reading the discussion thread on this post!

[emodendroket]

From what I have read about Ambien I feel like the descent is much more sudden and unpredictable with the sleeping pills.

[gnulinux]

Ambien descent for me was absolutely momentary. One moment you feel normal, one moment later you feel absolutely different. For me it's even debatable if it ever makes you asleep. It feels more like it paralyzes you. I guess, I never had a "black out" from Ambien (like sleep walking etc) and the portions I remember were what I can describe as hell on earth.

[astura]

Ambien is a prescription medication; alcohol is a recreational drug.