That’s because of gradual shifts in culture and attitudes, not due to prohibition.
Prohibition has failed to effectively “ban” any drug, and often tends to encourage their usage and harm efforts to alleviate addiction.
Tobacco smoking is also declining in many nations in response to improved public health awareness and again cultural shifts. If those trends continue it could all but fade away naturally. Tobacco prohibition is arguably not necessary and could even become counterproductive.
Raising the legal drinking age has definitely helped. While there’s still all too many teenagers drinking, my experience through my teens is that it’s a lit fewer than when I was a kid and harder to get.
— funny story - as an obviously older adult I got carded a couple years ago at a baseball game. They had a zero tolerance policy so I could not get a beer, despite going to multiple stands. Finally, partly out of amusement, I asked a newly legal intern less than half my age to buy beer for me
I’m not so sure. I’m in the UK, many parts of Europe have more liberal laws and attitudes towards alcohol than us, but it’s the British teens (and the British in general) infamously known for binge drinking.
Yeah I always used to prefer the more liberal policies (when it affected me) and wanted to raise my kids that way but here in the US you just can’t hide from binge drinking issues predominantly in teenagers. And that type of alcohol abuse seems to have decreased with the stricter laws (a later start to problem behavior gives some time to mature)
I don’t know what about those other cultures may cause different behavior patterns but it’s not simply a matter of us loosening up, nor of parents setting an example of moderation
? Alcohol consumption has been dropping consistently with each new generation…
That’s because of gradual shifts in culture and attitudes, not due to prohibition.
Prohibition has failed to effectively “ban” any drug, and often tends to encourage their usage and harm efforts to alleviate addiction.
Tobacco smoking is also declining in many nations in response to improved public health awareness and again cultural shifts. If those trends continue it could all but fade away naturally. Tobacco prohibition is arguably not necessary and could even become counterproductive.
You call prohibition, I call education and restriction
Raising the legal drinking age has definitely helped. While there’s still all too many teenagers drinking, my experience through my teens is that it’s a lit fewer than when I was a kid and harder to get.
— funny story - as an obviously older adult I got carded a couple years ago at a baseball game. They had a zero tolerance policy so I could not get a beer, despite going to multiple stands. Finally, partly out of amusement, I asked a newly legal intern less than half my age to buy beer for me
I’m not so sure. I’m in the UK, many parts of Europe have more liberal laws and attitudes towards alcohol than us, but it’s the British teens (and the British in general) infamously known for binge drinking.
Yeah I always used to prefer the more liberal policies (when it affected me) and wanted to raise my kids that way but here in the US you just can’t hide from binge drinking issues predominantly in teenagers. And that type of alcohol abuse seems to have decreased with the stricter laws (a later start to problem behavior gives some time to mature)
I don’t know what about those other cultures may cause different behavior patterns but it’s not simply a matter of us loosening up, nor of parents setting an example of moderation