Personal consumption is a completely different realm than dangerous systemic infrastructure decisions. I'll give someone the right to die fat and drunk on their own, but I absolutely abhor how our roads make murderers out of us.
I am willing to wager that there are more alcohol related deaths involving chronic drinkers than there are binging college students who forget to vomit.
We've just termed those deaths "acceptable" or pretend that they are "natural causes" because the victims tend to be in the second half of an expected lifespan.
Well, I'm curious what the numbers actually are. Either way about it, I agree we should fight for addicts. I've lost two dear people to alcohol, and I'm fighting for a third right now.
However, other than increased mental health care funding I struggle to imagine what governmental policy would have helped those I've lost. A sin tax would have done nothing for these people (hell, prohibition wouldn't have worked either).
Legislating 1 meter barriers between auto and bicycle traffic is incredibly simple compared to attempting to legislate the psycho-social forces of addiction. We don't have to limit our social change to legislation but that's the mindset from first reply was made in.
