It's common for people who don't drink to assume alcohol is a big problem - it's not.
> Give people a sense of purpose, or better community ties, and the need for "drugs" decreases
People with sense of purpose, and better community ties, indulge in social drinking all too often. Never been to an entrepreneur's meetup which is in a bar? Never seen a family and friends getting drunk?
Alcohol (like all drugs) has a very dark side (but it is just one side). To sweep it away so blithely is, IMO, exceedingly naive.
Unfortunately, the conversations on these topics are too often "Your view is myopic. And my view is the only view that matters." We need more of the former and less of the latter.
And how prevalent is that "wife beating" today? Alcohol exists, and "wife beating" has come down significantly. There are variables other than alcohol, and alcohol plays a very small part.
> Alcohol (like all drugs) has a very dark side (but it is just one side). To sweep it away so blithely is, IMO, exceedingly naive.
And to take it too seriously is ridiculous.
> "Your view is myopic. And my view is the only view that matters."
Like yours? Your view is the only one that matters, and other viewpoints in your opinion are exceedingly naive?
* Teenagers are amazingly stupid already. They are stupid and dangerous when driving under the influence of alcohol. A very dear friend of mine was killed by a drunk driver.
* Drunk girls are raped by drunk stupid men all the time. My cousin got pregnant at 14 because of this.
When you don't drink is when you can really see how big of a problem alcohol really is. Starting with social drinking, which means that some people are absolutely incapable of have social bonding or plain fun without any alcohol. Pathetic.
* Drunk driving is a very important problem.
* Rape is a very important problem.
* And people demonizing me (a drinker) for crimes that I do not commit... is a very important problem.
Put those pieces of shit in jail for the crimes they commit and let mature people (the vast majority of society) be.
PS: Approximately 80% of all drunk drivers are adults (21 and older, I'll give you 20 as teenagers). So you should probably stop blaming teenagers so much too... Source: http://www.oas.samhsa.gov/NSDUH/2k10NSDUH/2k10Results.htm#Fi...
In the UK something like 90% of crime is alcohol related, most A&E admissions are alcohol related, etc. As someone who used to drink (i.e. take alcohol) and now doesn't, I feel qualified to agree with armandososa that for many it's not until you stop drinking that you really become sensitive to many of its negative effects such as those he/she mentioned.
Edit: in case it's not absolutely clear, I am sure you are a good person whether you drink or not. That does not mean that widespread use of alcohol is good for society.
Anyway, I think my point distilled is that although alcohol may be very commonly involved in crime that doesn't mean that crime is actually very common.
And for what it's worth (not much, since this isn't my field of study ;), I'd say that alcohol probably never caused rape. You have to be pretty damn fucked up in the first place to rape somebody, normal people will never do it no matter how much alcohol you put in them.
I'm quite inclined to think that rape is far more common than you think. Most rapists are perfectly "normal" people in their everyday lives.
- the majority of its users can do use it responsibly without adverse effect on their lives and those around them
- it needs to be banned, or even subject to extensive regulation
- the act itself is the root cause of said destructive behavior. People who let WoW ruin their lives often had other severe issues to begin with.
Among other things that can be highly self-destructive (and destructive to those around them) in the wrong hands: sports cars, the gym, fast food (>25% of the USA is obese, after all), online gaming, poker, literature... I could go on.
Hell, ignoring the moral side of it for a moment, legislating morality just simply doesn't work. Disregarding the justifications of Prohibition, from a practical perspective it just made things worse: it created a major avenue of organized crime, and failed to stop the flow of alcohol anyways. If the people want to drink, or smoke pot, or play poker, or log onto WoW, or chow down on a burger, you can't stop it.
Oh, really? Yes.
> Alcohol is a very large problem, not least keeping people isolated and stuck in their lower self, see Timothy Learys writings on drugs and Chakras. http://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/aa38.htm
Alcohol is not a problem, being an alcoholic is. Breaking news, excess of anything is generally bad.
By your reasoning, tv is bad since excess tv is bad, food is bad since excess food is bad...The list goes on and on.
In the context of western society alcohol abuse has been almost normalized, and binge drinking especially amongst young people is considered 'a fun night out'.
You are right, alcohol abuse is the problem. As a society we abuse alcohol.
TV and sports events are saturated with alcohol advertising, children are exposed from a very young age to alcohol (ab)use.
Granted, there is nothing wrong with drinking in moderation, I enjoy a few beers myself. Though if there were an actually sane and evidenced based approach to drug policy, alcohol would be seen to be one of the most damaging drugs and would be regulated appropriately. Regulation meaning education, higher taxes on alcoholic beverages, a heavy restriction on advertising, and support for the sick people that are abusing it.
Addicts can literally chose their substance over food, and forget about rent and family members... A large portion of the suffering addicts endure can be traced directly back to financial hardships induced by the price of their substance. So not only does this sort of policy not work, but it is actively inhuman. Addicts need professional medical treatment, effectively telling them to 'just say no' is ignoring the reality of the situation.
Not to mention you'll still have drunk rich jackasses in sportscars killing people (RIP Ryan Dunn)...