I'd hazard a guess that alcohol is a lot less addictive than heroin, although full-blown alcoholism and withdrawal is no joke. I think we also have a lot of cu

I'd hazard a guess that alcohol is a lot less addictive than heroin, although full-blown alcoholism and withdrawal is no joke. I think we also have a lot of customs around alcohol to mitigate the level and constancy of drinking required to get addicted. Lots of jokes about "it's 5pm somewhere" or "the sun is over the yard arm", "no drinking on a school night", etc. I think there are generally enough taboos around day drinking or being constantly drunk that most people are nudged away from veering into physical addiction.