Pretty much the same skepticism you'll see outside of HN too.

It's a difficult subject to touch without one side soundy too preachy/judgy and the other side getting defensive and irrational.

The way I see it is this -- our brave new world is tough, and many people need their happy juice to cope with the burden of it. Maybe better work/life balance and better mental/emotional health resources would improve this, but unfortunately both those things get in the way of the rich becoming richer so don't expect much.

People get defensive when they feel like they’re being attacked. Many people really enjoy alcohol and don’t like to think about it as a dangerous drug (which, of course, it is).

I think the skepticism is on any article that has a single answer to health related problems.

For me, I find that a lot of people blame alcohol for other negative behavior in ways that doesn't make sense. It is fair to say alcohol gets too free of a pass, at large, while also thinking it is too quickly blamed for things, too.

Drinking is incredibly common, so everyone has some experience with it, and very few experience loss due to it. Same reason the flu vaccine has perpetually low uptake.

Prohibition is also taught in American schools as THE failure of government policy. The barest suggestion that alcohol regulation might be necessary to prevent some problem is going to be immediately viewed through that lens.