I’m curious how this impacted withdrawal-related deaths. Alcohol is incredibly physically addictive and is one of a handful of commonly abused drugs that are lethally dangerous to withdraw from in an uncontrolled manner.

One way of staving off the lethal effects of delirium tremens is to take benzodiazepines (which are also highly addictive and can be fatal to withdraw from) or opioids (which are at least equally as ruinous as alcohol).

I always hope that the people involved in drafting these one-size-fits-all solutions to complex medical and social issues have some sort of first-hand knowledge of physical addiction. Sadly it’s usually puritanical politicians looking for a boost in approval ratings, or equally puritanical academics looking to gain clout. Real humans be damned!