The connection, such as it is, between the Friday night alcopopper, the man with a lunchtime thirst, and the knuckling-down-for-the-long-haul alcoholic is to do with the hard-to-define relationship between habit and dependency.
This is a relationship that, it seems to me, is only minimally – if at all – the product of licensing laws, or the price of alcohol, or television advertisements. At one end of it is culture and, at the other, it is about chemistry.
Policing these lies a little outside the remit of the state, and a long way outside its competence.
“Policing these lies a little outside the remit of the state, and a long way outside its competence.”
So? What’s the problem? That never seems to discourage or stop them–may even be an irresistible lure.
Note to Tim: I quoted (and therefore included the superfluous comma).