[madeofpalk]

I mean,

> Vinmonopolet (English: The Wine Monopoly), symbolized by Ⓥ and colloquially shortened to Polet, is a government-owned alcoholic beverage retailer and the only company allowed to sell beverages containing an alcohol content higher than 4.75% in Norway.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vinmonopolet

[Broken_Hippo]

Vinmonopolet is nicer than any liquor store I was at in the US, though (Am american, lived in norway the last 9 years). And there are options to get it delivered to your house. Plus, it is really easy to order something if they can get it (and ways to import it yourself if you don't see it on their website). My liquor store experience improved greatly upon moving here.

Do they close early? Sure, but that's easy to work around. Are they expensive? Sure, but I don't drink heavily so it isn't a big deal.

Plenty of places have such a solution, including some US states.

[hericium]

Sweden is similar - you can't buy a beer with > 3.5% alcohol. Subjectively, they improved the quality of these 2.1% / 3.5% beers. It was piss some 10 years ago.

Higher percentage, "normal" alcoholic products are sold in government-run Systembolaget[1]. And there's almost no cash in Sweden.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systembolaget

[kzrdude]

It's so sad that Sweden doesn't allow real beer in the shops like Norway does.

[rsolva]

I don't know, I have started to think we shouldn't sell any type of hard drugs, like alcohol and tobacco, in grocery stores. Why not sell these products in separate specialized stores, like we already do with Vinmonopolet?

[SV_BubbleTime]

> any type of hard drugs, like alcohol and tobacco, in grocery stores.

I volunteered at an addiction and methadone clinic for awhile. I recommend you try it then come talk about what “hard drugs” are.

[rsolva]

First, it is not the drug but a persons past experiences (usually some kind of trauma) that drives addictive and destructive behaviour. Opiates just happens to be one of the most effective tools to supress and temporarily deal with said trauma.

Secound, methadone is an awful drug primarily prescribed for it's much longer half-life (compared to diamorphine/heroin). This makes it more convenient for the ones who are tasked with controlling the traumatized persons intake of the medication. Diamorphine is less physically addictive than methadone and features considerably fewer side effects.

Alcohol is more damaging to the body and harder and more risky to quit than diamorphine. This fact is easily overlooked because the drug is so ubiquitous and socially accepted in our culture. The recreational and casual use that we observe in everyday life makes us believe that alcohol is a less dangerous drug.

Alcohol and tobacco are among the hardest drugs we have, it's just that we are so habituated to their use that we falsely believe they are safer, less addictive and easier to quit once physically dependent.

[drekk]

Alcohol kills more people than "harder" drugs and is much more acceptable within polite society. Same situation with tobacco, which also happens to be one of the most difficult substances to quit that we know of. Your average patient suffering from substance abuse will have an easier time quitting most drugs in comparison to nicotine. Given intravenously, nicotine is 5-10x more potent in producing a euphoric effect than cocaine.

Heroin, meth, etc. might kill you quicker and be more unpleasant to administer with more noticeable withdrawals, but if we're talking about ultimate cost to society they're not the worst offenders.

[SV_BubbleTime]

Please remake your argument using RATE of users who remain high functioning.

[InefficientRed]

There are still US states where wine can only be sold in state-owned stores.

[Epa095]

When I visited Ottawa (in Canada) a couple of years ago you had to go the the special liquor store (LCBO) to get beer!

[doublepg23]

Currently working at a PA one, I even get a .gov address.