Algohol is legal, so a lot of people are using it. Heroin is illegal, so significantly fewer people are using it. If the situation were reversed, we would have Heroin #1 (and probably with a lot larger "score").
A prohibition was also tried in many countries, and although that significantly reduced the direct adverse health effects of alcohol abuse (due to a reduction in the number of users), the "side effect" of the prohibition was an increase in criminal activity. On the ballance, our society has decided that the ills from legal alcohol do not outweigh the ills from the prohibition.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2010-11-02 02:17 pm (UTC)A prohibition was also tried in many countries, and although that significantly reduced the direct adverse health effects of alcohol abuse (due to a reduction in the number of users), the "side effect" of the prohibition was an increase in criminal activity. On the ballance, our society has decided that the ills from legal alcohol do not outweigh the ills from the prohibition.