You can socialize a populace to use alcohol in several different ways. Some of which are incredibly destructive.
The low quality of most modern food and drinks is related but separate issue. (BTW, in the United States everyone pretty much quit smoking but cancer rates haven’t dropped because stomach and butt cancer rates are through the roof)
Cigarettes are bad, but tobacco was probably keeping cancer rates down: https://poal.co/s/Health/678767
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