Cigarettes by contrast are an industrial product explicitly made to be addictive. I'd guess? at least half of people who start to consume them become addicted and it becomes habitual. (Though I should say I and others I know who 'smoked' recreationally @ college age at clubs etc never did become addicted, or quit fairly easily)
Tobacco itself also has deep cultural roots; ritually among indigenous North Americans, and also among post-colonial Europeans&North Americans in pipe tobacco and cigars. But that's not the same thing at all as cigarettes. I smoke a pipe now and then during the summer, and it rarely if ever leads to cravings.
If smokers could do it without contaminating their whole environment no one would care.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8894851/
Nicotine is another such drug and relieves some symptoms of Parkinson's and Alzheimer possibly though its affect on AcH receptors.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicotinic_acetylcholine_recept...
The problem is not the substance but the culture which is formed around the substance.
My grandfather drank Vodka everyday of his happy life and lived till he was 98. I rely on Vodka as part of my medicine if if you take that away from me I will be very upset and sick.
> Do restaurants need to start banning alcohol from their venues?
Restaurants make more money selling booze than they ever made selling tobacco, so there is a lot of political pressure for this to not happen. Not just money from selling the booze itself, but from all the other irresponsible purchases drunk people make. Who's going to spend $25 for a ham and cheese sandwich if they're not drunk?
Also the benefits of smoking vs alcohol aren't even comparable, alcohol is the foundation of advanced social civilizations. Smoking let's you take short breaks from labor. It's was cigarettes in particular as well as social pipe smoking isn't / wasn't nearly as bad.
The weird binge drinking attitude of Americans needs to be toned down but it’s really a cultural thing encouraged with the high legal drinking age and various inhibitions against, say, a beer at lunch. For most people there’s nothing at all wrong with light or occasionally moderate drinking.
No, otherwise many of them would go out of business.