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Alcohol is a highly addictive drug that kills tens of thousands of Americans every year.

The reason it's not banned is that we can't control the precursors. Alcohol can be made in almost any conditions from pretty much any food. Even prisons have problems with alcohol manufacture on site.

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The banning of marijuana, meth, heroin and cocaine has not exactly been a resounding success. It has opened the door to massive violent crime opportunity, cost the taxpayers billions, and led the greatest incarceration rate of any country in the world. There is no way in which it makes sense; the situation only persists because of the strong puritanical streak that makes it politically popular to pretend doubling down on the war on drugs will somehow make the country better.

No, drug bans have not been outstanding successes, but they've gone very well compared to prohibition of alcohol.

It is at least physically possible to control the distribution of methamphetamine and heroin precursors. The same is not true for alcohol. No alcohol ban could ever work, conceptually.

That's a pointless technicality. It's easier to get meth than moonshine.

Believe it or not, I can just buy moonshine off the shelves where I live. I don't (because moonshine), but I could. It's a bit expensive and you can't buy gallon jugs of it, but it's there.

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