[ap22213]

I don't see it quite so cynically. Alcohol is legal because there would be outrage or civil unrest if it was banned.

Most people that I've met (who may not be considered alcoholics) certainly have some level of alcohol dependency. And, I'm being loose here with the word 'dependency', but in the last year, I've never seen one of my friends or acquaintances refuse alcohol at a bar or restaurant, while others were drinking.

However, that does bring up the issue of money and alcohol. Restaurants seem to push the stuff pretty heavily, at least in the US. There should at least be some restrictions on the amount of profit that bars / restaurants can make off of it.

[chimeracoder]

> Alcohol is legal because there would be outrage or civil unrest if it was banned.

There is outrage and 'civil unrest' in some sort surrounding other drugs; the difference is the communities in which it manifests.

The war on drugs very disproportionately affects people along lines of race and socioeconomic status[0]. These communities certainly are outraged at how their families and communities are being destroyed (literally) by the prohibition of these drugs and the societal ramifications that go along with the prohibition. The difference is that they're not in a position to voice that outrage as loudly.

Remember why prohibition of alcohol was repealed - wealthy taxpayers were mad that their tax bills went up after the passage of the 18th amendment (the government could no longer make revenue off of alcohol taxes). This is exactly why initiatives to legalize marijuana in Colorado (Amendment 64), Washington, and California (Prop 19) have used the language 'tax and regulate'. It's not some crazy new idea - it's literally the same tactic that succeeded in passing the 21st amendment!

[0] http://www.amazon.com/New-Jim-Crow-Incarceration-Colorblindn...

[Crito]

> I've never seen one of my friends or acquaintances refuse alcohol at a bar or restaurant, while others were drinking.

I've never seen somebody refuse the optional free pickle spear at the sandwich line at work.

[tbrownaw]

Just yesterday, I got an extra pickle spear from someone who didn't want theirs. :)

But yeah, social pressure != dependency.

[superuser2]

There is such a thing as responsible, low-level alcohol consumption that doesn't turn into a spiral of addiction and self-destruction. Same with LSD. Not so much with heroin.

[DanBC]

> There is such a thing as responsible, low-level alcohol consumption

That responsible low-level use tends to need strong laws to enforce it.

Minimum unit pricing (which only affects the very cheap, poor quality end of the market); tight alcohol and drivng limits; time restrictions on serving alcohol.

See eg the measures that France brought in (less dead people from cirrhosis; less dead and injured from traffic accidents; more profitable drinks industry) to England, which has seen a five fold increase in cirrhosis over the same time.

Alcohol has enormous costs which are mostly hidden because people don't want to accept the truth.

[superuser2]

Many of those costs are directly related to suburban car culture. When you take the subway anyway, risks are much lower.

I would argue that people drinking enough to incur liver damage are doing so not because alcohol is addictive but because they have other psychological issues for which alcohol is the only effective relief. In which case, if it weren't for alcohol, they'd do something else. You can't make the whole world a padded cell.

[shawabawa3]

> Not so much with heroin.

Do you have a source for that?

Some quick googling found this study which suggests it happens

  [1] http://www.jrf.org.uk/system/files/1859354254.pdf

[spacemanmatt]

How can you ignore the existing outrage and civil unrest around today's prohibition? It is just like the early 1900s. We have black markets, cultural adaptations of the criminality, and all the same corruption patterns.