> hangovers skill issue > healthcare costs for long term drinkers maybe someone should address their mental issues leading to alcoholism? these mental issues would cause costs either way, as would fixing them. alcohol actually is "cheaper" for the system in the short term (no medical expenses), and with some luck the guy simply gets cirrhosis and dies without ever entering a hospital? that's cheap. the real cost actually would be the shortened life-expectancy = paying less taxes or becoming disabled. > amount of resources wasted in bottling/canning i am honestly not sure that is significant. at least alcohol serves a variety of purposes. what does bottle coca cola accomplish? may as well drink water, and that will be less harmful too. alcohol will always be manufactured since it is also a solvent and a fuel. plays a big role in why it is not banned. it's actually kinda useful. > cost of drunks acting out sure, that definitely is a bit of a unique issue. few drugs cause people to act so recklessly. but who pays those costs anyway? at least nominally the offender is supposed to pay the damages, no? so it's a problem of law enforcement. drunk driving and public drunkeness already are illegal. overall i think the social cost angle is overrated. of course you want to stop people from consuming excessive quanties of alcohol, because that is really bad. but obesity and smoking are worse since those actually are effectively pointless and needless. alcohol is a medication of sorts, one that can easily be abused. in other words it is useful. being a giant lardass or smoking not so much. so of course people should be prevented from drinking excessively, but it's no reason to ban alcohol or anything of the sorts.
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