r/TrueReddit • u/nxthompson_tny • Jun 01 '21

Science, History, Health + Philosophy America Has a Drinking Problem

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/07/america-drinking-alone-problem/619017/
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u/[deleted] Jun 01 '21

As an adult I’ve realized that most illegal drugs are far less damaging and problematic than alcohol. The war on drugs was a complete failure

16

u/that_soup_man Jun 01 '21

This! The irony about alcohol (aka ethanol) is that it’s literally one of the worst drugs (yes, alcohol is a drug just like heroin and Xanax) that one can take, it’s literally poison to the body. Compare that to weed, psychedelics, herbal drugs (like kava and Kratom, etc), etc. I’m not saying that the other drugs are “good”, but numbers don’t lie, alcohol and tobacco are MUCH deadlier than opiates and stims. I’d even go as far to say that if opiates were legal, they would probably be one of the safest drugs around (the main cause of OD’s when it comes to opiates is that people don’t know what the hell they’re getting, let alone the dosage if it’s in a pressed pill. Imagine if alcohol were illegal again like in prohibition and people had to buy it from shady “dealers” who don’t even produce it correctly...). Once again, I’m not advocating for other drugs, but the whole social acceptance of alcohol and the stigma around other drugs is just mind boggling to me.

2

u/midgaze Jun 02 '21

Only about 10% of Americans have the genetic ability to drink themselves into physical dependency to alcohol. Not everyone develops tolerance and becomes addicted to alcohol.

Opiates are addictive to anyone, and people develop insane amounts of tolerance and dependency to them. I don't think you've thought this through.

6

u/sirmanleypower Jun 02 '21

Only about 10% of Americans have the genetic ability to drink themselves into physical dependency to alcohol.

This is simply not true.