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The new war on alcohol is fully underway. Following a series of studies proclaiming how bad drinking can be for your health, the federal government is poised to mandate cancer warnings on bottles like they do for cigarette packs. Meanwhile, social movements advocating for less or no drinking have been on the rise for years now, with Dry January, Sober October, and so forth empowering the sober curious to go full teetotaler, if just for a spell.
It’s hard to fight against the basic premise behind this. We’ve known alcohol to be a poison for centuries, as anyone who’s imbibed a bit too much is bound to realize the next morning. I’d never argue that someone should actively choose to put a toxic substance in their body if they don’t want to, and I don’t know how anyone could justify such a stance. (On the other hand, anyone who thought they were getting super healthy on a steady diet of drinking is clearly clueless.)