[MikeSid]

Alcohol is a highly marketed and image driven product. All other drugs are not.

Imagine any alcohol image, from an ice clear martini in a crystal glass at a hotel bar, to a couple of soldiers passing a flask in a foxhole, to some dudes sippin' Lowenbrau because "tonight is kinda special". The image that most people have of alcohol is highly manufactured, marketing driven and very distant from the reality of everyday life This image has been cultivated over hundreds of years in virtually every culture - from Chartreuse to Glog, to Sangria, to Mead.

Smoking used to carry a widely accepted positive image of manliness and cool until the image was replaced in our minds with gray lungs, throat microphones and cancer patients. And as far as I am aware, that image shift is largely an American thing, and perhaps ever mostly West Coast.

In spite of alcohol's obvious harmful affect on the human body, the image remains and is so ensconced in our culture that it will only change on an individual basis for those whose lives have been directly and negatively affected. Worldwide, the beat goes on.

Full disclosure: I drink a lot. Part of it probably family DNA/physical addition, part of it plain old social drinking based on culture and image. And a good measure of it just because a good wine really does make a meal.