That is in fact why alcohol is insanely expensive in Norway. Because they have historically had high rates of alcoholism and want to combat that.

It's really only because of the taxes. Vinmonopolet prices are marked up by 10.4 NOK per liter plus 21% of the purchase price excluding taxes and duties up to a maximum of 250kr per item. Of course, this means they can't have loss-leaders, but at the same time, you can end up with very good deals on expensive drinks relative to many other countries.

Of course I would love to see Norway lower some of it's sin taxes - these mostly only hurt poor people.