Like I bet if alcohol was something you had to snort, or just like a pill you take, I think a lot of people might not dig it as much.

  • TrackinDaKraken@lemmy.world
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    15 days ago

    When people say, “I don’t use drugs”, almost never do they include alcohol in that. Alcohol, which is a drug, is always referred to separately, in large part because it’s a beverage. Most people, if asked, will agree that alcohol is a drug, but it’s not really categorized as one in their mind on a day-to-day basis. No one has a glass of wine at lunch and thinks, “I’m doing drugs now.” But, if alcohol as a liquid simply didn’t exist, but exactly the same effect could be had in pill form, I don’t think people would be taking a pill with their dinner, and washing it down with water.

    • radix@lemmy.world
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      15 days ago

      For many people, “drugs,” with no other qualifier, is just short-hand for “illegal drugs.” Plenty of people who say they don’t use drugs also take prescriptions or OTC medications.

      It will be interesting in the next few years to see where marijuana ends up on that spectrum. Still largely illegal (federally), but if that changes, will people still consider it a “drug” in the same way they do now, or will it fall into a separate category like drugs that are mostly legal?

      • _g_be@lemmy.world
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        15 days ago

        There’s people already, which smoke recreationally and/or advocate for legalization, that already don’t see it in the same category as other ‘harder’ drugs. And, it hasn’t always been illegal federally.

        All this to say, it’ll probably end up near alcohol on the spectrum you describe

    • kholby@lemmy.world
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      15 days ago

      Shouldn’t you be slowly eroding the government instead of browsing Lemmy, Brett?

  • ReanuKeeves@lemm.ee
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    15 days ago

    I think you’re probably right, especially now that snorting snuff and smoking are significantly less common. Although if you put it in vape form…

  • Zenith@lemm.ee
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    15 days ago

    I think of it was a pill it would be waaaayy more popular. A lot of people avoid alcohol because it’s disgusting, including me, but if I could skip having to drink disgusting liquid to get drunk I’d consume a lot more of it. Snorting probably would be more popular too as long as it didn’t smell bad or burn to do. I like alcohol and hate drinking so I don’t drink but if drinking is taken out of the picture…. I’d be down

  • smoker@lemm.ee
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    15 days ago

    Cigarettes, pipes, hookah and lots of other forms of smoking were and are popular as a social lubricant, if that’s what you’re getting at

  • magic_lobster_party@fedia.io
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    15 days ago

    I believe it’s mostly cultural. Alcoholic beverages are as old as civilization itself. We drink alcohol because that has been the social norm for thousands of years.

    But there’s probably something about it being a beverage as well. It goes along well with food because of this, which makes it a tasteful alternative to water.

    • agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works
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      15 days ago

      Alcoholic beverages are as old as civilization itself.

      Some people theorize that alcohol was the cause of civilization; that we settled down and developed agriculture to have a reliable source of grain to make archaic “beer”.

  • Darleys_Brew@lemmy.ml
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    15 days ago

    To flip your question, I’m a massive fan of craft beer/real ales/etc …if it wasn’t for the alcohol ingredient, would I walk in to ten different pubs and try all the IPAs/stouts/pilsners I do cause “I haven’t had this one before”? Probably not…

  • bcgm3@lemmy.world
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    14 days ago

    Like I bet if alcohol was something you had to snort…

    This reminded me of this ancient internet video where a few guys (allegedly) “inhale” alcohol by adding dry ice and breathing in the vapors. Doesn’t look to be very effective, but if it was, I’d at least try it.

    • Freshparsnip@lemm.ee
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      14 days ago

      I got drunk eating rum Popsicles and joked “how can I be drunk if I didn’t drink it”

  • YappyMonotheist@lemmy.world
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    15 days ago

    How would the average German man socialize if alcohol did not exist? I’m not even kidding, I’ve never seen it be absent at any Western table. We should be able to slowly but surely become capable of being normal human beings without needing to be at least tipsy, but at this point in Western civilization it’s a “necessary” crutch so I assume it would be used regardless of the method.

  • lucullus@discuss.tchncs.de
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    15 days ago

    There is a really good comedy skit from the german youtube channel Bohemian Browser Ballet, about what if heroin was used like beer in germany. Including the social stigma of not consuming. That really speaks of my experiences not drinking. Youtube Invideous

  • Aggravationstation@feddit.uk
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    15 days ago

    Before water could be reliably sterilised beer was the only thing people could drink safely. So it would have been the only thing a lot of people drank for their whole lives after they stopped breastfeeding which I think will have contributed quite strongly to it’s popularity.

  • Freshparsnip@lemm.ee
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    14 days ago

    That’s what I’ve theorized for a long time. One of the reasons alcohol is more popular than other drugs is how easy it is to take, that and the fact that it is legal.

  • squaresinger@lemmy.world
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    13 days ago

    You mean like other drugs that you have to burn and then inhale the fumes, which stink and make you cough, especially when you start out using them?

    Well, tobacco exists.