20 years ago, if you were over 40 you may have known someone, or known someone personally but secondhand that died from alcohol related reasons, maybe even more

20 years ago, if you were over 40 you may have known someone, or known someone personally but secondhand that died from alcohol related reasons, maybe even more than one, especially considering drunken driving. But you definitely knew multiple people who died from smoking, and you almost certainly witnessed their slow decline through lung cancer, emphysema or other smoking related illnesses. In many cases you knew more people that died from smoking than all other things combined. Also the benefits of smoking vs alcohol aren't even comparable, alcohol is the foundation of advanced social civilizations. Smoking let's you take short breaks from labor. It's was cigarettes in particular as well as social pipe smoking isn't / wasn't nearly as bad.