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mrsoojay t1_j2fhrz2 wrote

Alcohol in moderation can actually be good for you. I do mean moderation though. And the world would not be the way it is today without beer.

Tobacco on the other hand, I just don’t get. There are no health benefits. It’s purposely filled with shit that does even more harm to you, and it’s made to be addictive. The fact that the government makes a fuckload of taxes from it should not be an issue. That’s like saying a criminal should be allowed to keep robbing banks because they rely on the income. And when you consider the strain the diseases from smoking put on the healthcare system, surely there’s some kind of trade off.

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Windexhammer t1_j2fjoga wrote

For the tobacco piece, the strongest argument I've heard in favour of keeping it legal is to avoid the creation of a black market.

I don't know about other countries, but at least in Australia where the tobacco tax is super high there is now a growing market for black market tobacco, with all the criminality and safety concerns that go along with other illicit drug trafficking activities, and that's without outright banning the stuff.

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mrsoojay t1_j2fkjz7 wrote

Couldn’t that logic apply to other harmful substances though? Meth. Cocaine. Heroin. There’s a black market for all of those.

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this_water t1_j2flptk wrote

I’m coming from a place of curiosity as I generally do; can you elaborate on beer contributing to the world being the way it is today?

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mrsoojay t1_j2fnhrd wrote

Indeed. Water was notoriously unhealthy in many parts of the world, causing severe illness and death. But beer requires boiling the water first, removing said bacteria. It also contributed to creative and inventive thinking. The pyramids, math, modern agriculture, factories, all from beer. There’s a Discovery TV series called How Beer Saved The World that I highly recommend.

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