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Society's perspective isn't just marketing. Alcohol engages the brain's reward center much less effectively / directly than heroin, so it is objectively less pr

Society's perspective isn't just marketing. Alcohol engages the brain's reward center much less effectively / directly than heroin, so it is objectively less problematic. However, alcohol's prevalence means it has many more negative effects. I'd put sugar in a similar category.

tourmalinetaco 3y ago
Alcohol is not “objectively less problematic”. Just because it is less addictive doesn’t suddenly make it less problematic. It affects the brain directly, reducing your ability to think critically both short-term due to its inhibiting effects and long-term due to brain shrinkage. Meaning you are more likely to hurt those around you when you consume alcohol. It enhances the likelihood of giving into your “bad thoughts”, which is exactly why we see crime decrease when it is banned. Affects of heroin on the brain are more closely related to seeking the drug itself, rather than lowering inhibition across the board. Of course this still leads to negative behavior, such as theft or assault, but it doesn’t lead to domestic/sexual violence like alcohol can. Sugar literally cannot be compared to either of them. Caffeine has more of a case, frankly. While sugar has an incredible amount of health problems related to it, and is highly addictive (highly recommend “Salt Sugar Fat” by Michael Moss), it is not in the same league as alcohol or heroin. You are not holding up a gas station for sugar money, nor assaulting someone because your drunken brain thought they laughed at you. While society’s perspective isn’t just marketing, it is just plain wrong. We have normalized alcohol so readily because its been with us for millennia, that even when presented to the mountains of evidence over its damaging effects we just ignore it or, worse, play it off as a “problem for lightweights”.
- caeril 3y ago
  > You are not holding up a gas station for sugar money Yeah, but you're holding up literally everyone in your society. When you get cancer from an unfortunate cosmic ray strike on the wrong strand of dna, but the Oncology department is backlogged for a month by people whose cancers were caused by chronic inflammation from overeating (primarily sugar), you're definitely being held up for proverbial sugar money.

tourmalinetaco 3y ago

Alcohol is not “objectively less problematic”. Just because it is less addictive doesn’t suddenly make it less problematic. It affects the brain directly, reducing your ability to think critically both short-term due to its inhibiting effects and long-term due to brain shrinkage. Meaning you are more likely to hurt those around you when you consume alcohol. It enhances the likelihood of giving into your “bad thoughts”, which is exactly why we see crime decrease when it is banned. Affects of heroin on the brain are more closely related to seeking the drug itself, rather than lowering inhibition across the board. Of course this still leads to negative behavior, such as theft or assault, but it doesn’t lead to domestic/sexual violence like alcohol can. Sugar literally cannot be compared to either of them. Caffeine has more of a case, frankly. While sugar has an incredible amount of health problems related to it, and is highly addictive (highly recommend “Salt Sugar Fat” by Michael Moss), it is not in the same league as alcohol or heroin. You are not holding up a gas station for sugar money, nor assaulting someone because your drunken brain thought they laughed at you. While society’s perspective isn’t just marketing, it is just plain wrong. We have normalized alcohol so readily because its been with us for millennia, that even when presented to the mountains of evidence over its damaging effects we just ignore it or, worse, play it off as a “problem for lightweights”.

caeril 3y ago
> You are not holding up a gas station for sugar money Yeah, but you're holding up literally everyone in your society. When you get cancer from an unfortunate cosmic ray strike on the wrong strand of dna, but the Oncology department is backlogged for a month by people whose cancers were caused by chronic inflammation from overeating (primarily sugar), you're definitely being held up for proverbial sugar money.