Notmyrealname

I wouldn't hold my breath; America loves your drinking, unless you get behind the wheel. (Interestingly, however, studies show that talking on a cellphone while driving is about as bad as being legally drunk with regard to distraction and slower reaction time. And texting while driving is about five times as bad as being legally drunk, at least with regard to reaction time. In that light, I've wondered for some time, where are the license suspensions for cellphone drivers? Where are the prison terms for texting-while-driving?)

chicory

If all people could live one day as an abused person/child, live the horrific life that some live, due to alcoholism, maybe things would change.

sugarbear1

prohibition part 2? I doubt it. too much money is involved.

ACT10Npack

Tobacco and alcohol are 2 different type of drugs that will see in today's life. You don't get anything about of tobacco besides addiction and lung cancer. Alcohol is a different story. If you drink responsible and don't hurt anyone then it's really not anyone business.

Just because you can't be responsible with your alcohol intake does not give you the right to take away other people right to drink alcohol if they choose to.

pauladmits

These laws are popping up all over the place. Here in Alaska if you get caught texting while driving it's almost equivalent to a drunk driving charge. I think in California you can't even talk on the cell phone while driving. There are serious consequences for these actions in some places and I have no doubt it will become a nation wide law soon.

Mattcake

I hope so! And I'm a smoker :p

MalkavianEmily

PeacefulRain, forgive me because I'm a bit slow this morning. When you talk about a licence, what do you mean, exactly?
I hope you don't mean a driving licence, because I don't drive and therefore don't have - or need - one. It's a little unclear to me at the moment, because you focus so much on the issue of DUI.
Thanks. And sorry for being dim.

Db1105

No

justanothrdrunk

One of the big things about tobacco was how it was proven that the tobacco companies had been lying and manipulating the American public for years.

Phony medical studies
Intentionally targeting kids with advertising
Misrepresenting ingredients used in manufacture

The list goes on and on... At the very least, something like that would have to happen with the liquor industry. Not sure if many folks noticed, but after the big tobacco lawsuits, the liquor companies totally changed the way they advertise. Now every ad ends with, "please drink responsibly." Liquor companies also started supporting MADD/SADD groups, funding youth awareness ads, and anti-DWI ads - all voluntarily. That all was not happening before the tobacco lawsuits. They took notice of that one.

Mattcake

Watch the movie "Thank You for Smoking" but replace the cigs with alcohol in your mind. It would still make perfect sense -- especially the ending (no spoilers lol). Other than the impairment of cognition, smokes and booze are practically identical.

I'm a heavy smoker (will quit soon) and -unlike "social smokers"- I need my cigs just like I needed my drinks in the past.

MrsKing

Well, the way I drank was DEFINITELY socially unacceptable. Anyone could tell you that. In no country or planet would my behaviour have been socially acceptable when I drank. So... for me to drink again? Yes, that's socially unacceptable. But for others to drink? Well, I would like it to be socially unacceptable. I've read/watched so much stuff recently about the problems alcohol causes - not just to our own bodies but to others' lives, and I just wish it didn't exist. But people CAN drink responsibly. Most people drink responsibly. Therefore, I just don't think it will ever happen. The government can advise people not to drink so much (as they do) but I can't imagine it going down very well if they were to say nobody could ever drink, EVER AGAIN. That would appear VERY unacceptable to most.

I try my best to never smoke around non-smokers, and if I do, I always ask them if it's OK that I do first. The funny thing is, people are so quick to tell me how smoking will kill me, how disgusting it is, how GROSS I am for smoking, yet not so many people told me that alcohol would kill me, that alcohol made me disgusting and gross.

It's weird, but I'd take smoking any day over alcohol. Alcohol has ruined many of my family members' lives, has killed two, and one is going that way. Smoking hasn't killed anyone that I know of (yet, I guess) and hasn't done anything to destroy my family.

But, there you go. That's life.