What you're saying is on an individual's level, and what OP saying is on the population's level. It certainly is possible for an individual to stop abusing chem

What you're saying is on an individual's level, and what OP saying is on the population's level. It certainly is possible for an individual to stop abusing chemicals and to thus achieve a higher quality of life, but I can't imagine a whole society doing this, because of the historical examples. So, social poisons are here to stay, and alcohol seemed to be resilient to government intervention, so, that's all there is really.