It is even more trivial to brew and optionally distill alcohol than to grow marijuana. So all that "difficult and costly" would achieve is an increase of dangerous homebrew substances being consumed.

IDK. During my trip to Finland, where alcohol sales follow this paternalistic approach, it struck me as odd how many "obviously problematic" alcoholics I met in the streets of Helsinki. Some of them drank window cleaning fluids and similar substitutes.

Libertarianish Tallinn 90 kms away seemed to cope better.

That's a valid view, but some alcohol in moderation certainly helps grease the wheels of social interaction.

This is probably why alcohol was known since ancient times. I'll cite: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_alcoholic_drinks] [https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2017/02/alcohol-...]

In many developed countries with universal health care, alcohol is significantly taxed in part to contribute to health care costs. Canada is one example and, as a result, alcohol is generally much more expensive than in USA. This despite the large volumes and purchasing power of the provincial liquour boards (as private sales are limited, to varying degrees according to province).