I don't think money is the reason alcohol is socially accepted, or in any case not the main one.
Some of it is social inertia but I think the main reason is that, for a relatively strong psychoactive, alcohol is extremely easy to make using ingredients which cannot be controlled.
I did homebrewing for awhile. All you really need is some form of sugar, a few chemicals (all of whom are contained in grapes or raisins) and yeast (bread yeast is fine, even wild/airborne yeast can do). Leave it alone a month, strain and you're done...
When you think about it, I should be in favor of prohibition. I'd make a fortune.
In fact, in the Balkans (where I come from) there's a long tradition of homemade hard liquor.
I think society's approval of alcohol is just a case of "if you can't beat it, join it".