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Comment by 01HNNWZ0MV43FF | Hacker News Reader

It can't be treated like drug addiction, though. Most people I know have a _relatively_ healthy relationship with alcohol or cannabis. The addicts, especially of hard drugs, are the odd ones out.

With phones, and before that music, and before that newspapers, it's a social norm. If you are trying to talk to people you feel like the weirdo.

And I get it, cause I don't like making myself vulnerable. I wish I talked to strangers but it's hard to undo a whole childhood of "Don't stare, don't bother them, keep to yourself, everyone loves how quiet you are, you're so mature for your age because you never talk, etc."

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I would argue it should be handled exactly like drug addiction ought to be. That is, as a widespread medical issue. But it is more complex than drug abuse due to interaction with people expressly being part of the equation. One's phone is ever available and there are very very few places indoors or outdoors that it isn't considered socially acceptable to use their smartphone for social media. The same is not true for alcohol or cannabis. Most people won't simply walk down the street or hang in a park smoking or drinking. Phone addiction is far more visible.

That's fair, I guess we agree that an epidemic of addiction is treated different than a couple cases of one-off addicts

Hm. In Iowa it's thought that 10% of the customers of liquor stores buy 90% of the product moved through the door.

That's not 10X the general population. That's 81X. One in nine drink 9X what nine other people do.

So, you have a relationship with alcohol, it's likely not a healthy one. It's addiction, all the way down.

I'm confused, you paint a picture in which the majority drink moderately and then say "likely not healthy" but in your example 90% of the customers, the vast majority, don't have an unhealthy relationship with alcohol.

So if you have a relationship with alcohol it is most likely a healthy one, and it's "addiction all the way down" for... a minority.

Yeah, well, that majority is likely buying alcohol for events, for celebrations. Not so much a 'relationship with alcohol' as a party favor. Don't drink anything at all the rest of the year.

You have a favorite drink, a regular bar, a liquor store that knows you - you are probably one of the ten percent. Believe it or not, most of us don't go to a bar most months of the year.

> Don't drink anything at all the rest of the year.

That doesn't really match my observations ,or NIH data https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/alcohols-effects-health/alcohol-to...

There the majority (18 and over, and slightly under 50% of 12 and over) report consumption in the last month.

Of those, a bit under 7% report "heavy usage". You can look up the definitions, but doesn't include e.g. "usually has a beer or two with dinner".

The category you describe definitely exists, but I don't think it's anywhere close to a majority, and there are also at least a couple reasonable categories between that problematic or abusive consumption.

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