My response:
Thank you for your reply; it was very kind of you to take the time to address my concerns. I must, however, debate some points.
If there is a penalty of 14 years imprisonment for supplying a substance which causes a poorly quantified increase in the risk of schizophrenia, why then is there no custodial term for supplying a substance which is well established as being addictive, causing profound and irreversible brain damage in heavy chronic users, causing many cases of death through acute poisoning each year, causing liver failure through heavy chronic use, causing a host of birth defects when taken by pregnant women and inducing violent and dangerous behaviours in a wide range of users, from addicts to first-time and casual users?
I understand that there is a strong cultural and economic aspect to alcohol that is difficult to counter, but the efforts outlined appear very meek given the danger and the socioeconomic inertia that must be overcome. A more rigorous policy is needed to wean society off this drug, which has long been a major cause of domestic violence and other social problems, apart from it's very obvious detriment to the individual user.
I also disagree that people must take responsibility for their own alcohol use. We as a society decided long ago that people were not able to take responsibility for their use of intoxicating substances when we started proscribing those substances. We simply haven't yet taken that line of thinking to it's final conclusion in which alcohol and tobacco, along with various other substances in common use, will be criminalised. 'Sensible use' by a majority was no defence for cocain and opium, which used to be readily available in pharmacies as medicinal preperations and were only abused by a minority, and it shouldn't be a defence for alcohol, and certainly not for tobacco, the use of which appears insensible from the start.
I'm glad to see, however, that tobacco is being taken somewhat seriously, and hope that controls on it continue to tighten with a view to eventual prohibition. Already I've noticed more people attempting to quit their addiction as a result of the inconveniences imposed upon them, and I doubt very much that tobacco, which is by any account a very poor substance for recreation, would find much traction in the black market under prohibition if there weren't so many pre-existing addicts.
