I have little sympathy for those who decide they need to impose unjustified rule, taxation, force and protection private property against the workers. There's a third side to the chasm, if such a thing could exist.
As to the effects of alcohol (or cigarettes, etc) on the social welfare system, this may be another argument against the social welfare system, or at least the manner in which it tends to operate. If the result is that government must creep further and further into regulating/taxing the lives of the population in order to control ever-rising costs, then something is quite awry.