# Why is alcohol use so socially acceptable (required), and pot evil. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 22, 2008, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-alcohol-use-so-socially-acceptable-required-and-pot-evil/474005 "2008-11-22T17:11:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2008, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-alcohol-use-so-socially-acceptable-required-and-pot-evil/474005/21 "2008-11-22T20:46:25Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > Bars are places of business. Their function is to sell drinks. Designated drivers should stick to non-alcoholic stuff, but they should drink something. Why should the bar allow you on the premises if you are not intending to be a customer? > > As for pot, it’s illegal. If you light up a joint in front of someone, you are making them an accessory to your crime. They might not want to take responsibility for your criminal actions. Personally, I think it should be legalised. If you want to use it, that’s fine by me. Until that happens, keep it private, don’t go involving other people in your actions. Two things: I don’t smoke pot since it could cost me my job. And I did say in the OP “if I step outside”. Oh yeah, By law, If a dg wasn’t there, non of the group would be. The bar should maybe be _paying_ him/her for bringing in the business. But a “thank you” would do. ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2008, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-alcohol-use-so-socially-acceptable-required-and-pot-evil/474005/22 "2008-11-22T20:48:22Z")
> [@mangeorge](#): > > Preferably booze, but at least a glass of something. And it’s happened way too often to be just me. That’s how Perrier first became so popular way back when. They were the first. Well, then, because people like to share, and worry that not sharing makes them look like an asshole. So hold a non-alcoholic drink to make them more comfortable. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2008, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-alcohol-use-so-socially-acceptable-required-and-pot-evil/474005/23 "2008-11-22T20:50:00Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > Perhaps because your simple presence allows four or five of your friends to drink themselves comatose—spending tens or hundreds of dollars in the process—without worrying about how they’re going to get home? > > I’ve worked in bars on three continents, and have never known a bar owner or manager to insist that the designated driver have a (soft) drink in hand. You are correct that bars are places of business, and that their function is to sell drinks. Which is precisely why owners and managers know how to weigh up the value to their bottom line of four or five people drinking to their hearts’ content, accompanied by a single non-drinker. This. Yeah I’m pissed too. I had to give up the pot many years ago because of my job and a kid on the way. But man, I really do miss it. I used to love to sit my silly ass in front of the tube and watch my favorite sitcoms while high on the stuff. Food and sex was fun too. (actually those things are still fun just different.) ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2008, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-alcohol-use-so-socially-acceptable-required-and-pot-evil/474005/24 "2008-11-22T20:51:52Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Another difference: getting drunk or tipsy _can be_ a side effect of drinking alcohol, rather than the main purpose, but nobody smokes pot except to get stoned or high or at least mellow out a little. > > And another thing: some people see drinking as the main purpose and activity of going to a bar or party, so if you abstain, you look out of place–like going to a restaurant and not eating anything. In real life, getting drunk is the whole point of drinking alcohol. Witness the lack of enthusiasm for alcohol-free “booze”. Wine drinkers like to deny this, but they’re full of it. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![samarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4da419/32.png) [@samarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samarm)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2008, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-alcohol-use-so-socially-acceptable-required-and-pot-evil/474005/25 "2008-11-22T20:56:35Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > Cannibis in one form or another has been around for millenia, so I’m curious why it’s use didn’t become more established in Europe. Certainly Europeans started using opiates copiously as soon as they were introduced in colonial times, but “hashish” seems to have remained more a fringe drug. You’ve never been to Amsterdam have you? Although hash is not fully legalized, it is tolerated. You can go into a coffee shop and buy a ready made joint, or baggy of weed, sit down and get high. Personally, I’d rather hang out with friends getting high, chilling and generally shooting the shit, than get drunk. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2008, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-alcohol-use-so-socially-acceptable-required-and-pot-evil/474005/26 "2008-11-22T21:00:01Z")
> [@MandaJo](#): > > Well, then, because people like to share, and worry that not sharing makes them look like an asshole. So hold a non-alcoholic drink to make them more comfortable. Now that’s rude, asking me to stand there holding a functionless glass of something I don’t even want. I can hold a friendly conversation better if I have _both_ hands free to wave around. As an experiment, tell the person that the liquid in your glass is tap water and watch/hear the reaction. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2008, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-alcohol-use-so-socially-acceptable-required-and-pot-evil/474005/27 "2008-11-22T21:06:15Z")
> [@samarm](#): > > You’ve never been to Amsterdam have you? Although hash is not fully legalized, it is tolerated. You can go into a coffee shop and buy a ready made joint, or baggy of weed, sit down and get high. Personally, I’d rather hang out with friends getting high, chilling and generally shooting the shit, than get drunk. Total agreement here! Plus, back when I used to get high, when a joint was passed your way you could simply pass it along with hardly any comment from the peanut gallery. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2008, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-alcohol-use-so-socially-acceptable-required-and-pot-evil/474005/28 "2008-11-22T21:49:11Z")
I’ve been to a lot of bars and I’ve never known one where the staff had a problem with one or two non-drinkers in a group of drinkers. > [@Chronos](#): > > The primary reason why alcohol use is so common is because alcohol is and always has been universally available. Anywhere you go in the world, with any level of technology, if there’s any sort of plant material available, you can make alcohol. In fact, if you’re storing food, you have to actually go to an extra effort to not make alcohol. Pretty much every other drug, though, you need to find a specific species of plant, or have sophisticated chemistry developed, or both. So alcohol has been a much larger part of human experience than any other drug. I can’t believe I’ve never thought of this. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2008, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-alcohol-use-so-socially-acceptable-required-and-pot-evil/474005/29 "2008-11-22T22:02:44Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > The primary reason why alcohol use is so common is because alcohol is and always has been universally available. Anywhere you go in the world, with any level of technology, if there’s any sort of plant material available, you can make alcohol. In fact, if you’re storing food, you have to actually go to an extra effort to _not_ make alcohol. Pretty much every other drug, though, you need to find a specific species of plant, or have sophisticated chemistry developed, or both. So alcohol has been a much larger part of human experience than any other drug. Not as universal, but pot (and coca) have been, according to lore anyway, locally available for eons. So has opium, and her kids, but that’s a whole 'nuther story. ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2008, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-alcohol-use-so-socially-acceptable-required-and-pot-evil/474005/30 "2008-11-22T22:07:10Z")
> [@mangeorge](#): > > Now that’s rude, asking me to stand there holding a functionless glass of something I don’t even want. I can hold a friendly conversation better if I have _both_ hands free to wave around. > As an experiment, tell the person that the liquid in your glass is tap water and watch/hear the reaction. 😛 But the discomfort people feel when they have something and you don’t isn’t under their control. It’s deeply conditioned. And you can always put the drink down and walk away. ---
**Author:** ![Pyper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Pyper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pyper)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2008, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-alcohol-use-so-socially-acceptable-required-and-pot-evil/474005/31 "2008-11-22T22:07:50Z")
> [@ParentalAdvisory](#): > > The war on drugs has bread sheep. Where can I get these bread sheep? ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2008, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-alcohol-use-so-socially-acceptable-required-and-pot-evil/474005/32 "2008-11-22T22:23:39Z")
> [@Pyper](#): > > Where can I get these bread sheep? [Will this do?](http://www.melburyandappleton.co.uk/gingerbread-sheep-47-p.asp) ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2008, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-alcohol-use-so-socially-acceptable-required-and-pot-evil/474005/33 "2008-11-22T22:27:28Z")
> [@mangeorge](#): > > You go to a party and don’t drink any alcohol. Why does practically everyone try so hard to get you to have something, _anything_, in a glass. Same for the designated driver at a bar. I’m perfectly comfortable with both hands empty, but that’s somehow regarded as kinda rude. If you’re at a bar you’re expected to patronize it. If you go to a party then it is the host’s job to make you comfortable and that is done by offering food and drink. > [@mangeorge](#): > > But if I step outside and fire up a joint, a much more benign drug than alcohol, I can become a pariah. > I know heavy drinkers (alcoholics) who are really down on pot smoking. > Buncha hypocrites! > Peace, > mangeorge If you step outside and blaze a doobie (hopefully not the brother) then you are bringing illegal drugs onto someone’s property which is an incredibly rude and stupid thing to do. So you know people who look down on illegal drugs. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2008, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-alcohol-use-so-socially-acceptable-required-and-pot-evil/474005/34 "2008-11-22T22:40:32Z")
Alcohol is too complex for most people to make at home. Marijuana can be grown at home quite easily. One creates corporate profits, the other destroys corporate profits. Guess which one is illegal? ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2008, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-alcohol-use-so-socially-acceptable-required-and-pot-evil/474005/35 "2008-11-22T22:43:06Z")
Legality is not the real issue. To prove this, simply ask the complainer if she/he feels the drug (pot) should be legal. Offering drink and food is proper, and hospitable. So should be gently declining, if one is neither hungry nor thirsty. “Outside” is a metaphor for away from the crowd. ---
**Author:** ![Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazle_Weatherfield)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2008, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-alcohol-use-so-socially-acceptable-required-and-pot-evil/474005/36 "2008-11-22T23:13:22Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > [Will this do?](http://www.melburyandappleton.co.uk/gingerbread-sheep-47-p.asp) Well, done! Those are SO CUTE! If I smoked a bunch of pot right now, I bet I could eat, like, a bunch of those! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2008, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-alcohol-use-so-socially-acceptable-required-and-pot-evil/474005/37 "2008-11-23T04:42:12Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > Alcohol is too complex for most people to make at home. Marijuana can be grown at home quite easily. One creates corporate profits, the other destroys corporate profits. Guess which one is illegal? Alcohol is a cinch to make at home. Decent beer and wine are border-line easy to make at home, and if you stay within your homebrew quota it’s perfectly legal. I’ve got nothing against marijuana, but I don’t think the laws reflect any sort of alcohol business conspiracy. If anything our marijuana laws keep the jails full, but that’s still not why we have our existing laws. Anti-pot laws came on in fits of paranoia and hugely unfounded bias, but there was no marketing conspiracy at work from either the alcohol or pharmaceutical industries. ---
**Author:** ![Shayna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shayna/32/17976_2.png) [@Shayna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shayna)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2008, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-alcohol-use-so-socially-acceptable-required-and-pot-evil/474005/38 "2008-11-23T07:00:41Z")
> [@mangeorge](#): > > In real life, getting drunk is the whole point of drinking alcohol. Witness the lack of enthusiasm for alcohol-free “booze”. Wine drinkers like to deny this, but they’re full of it. :dubious: Sorry, but you’re just wrong. Not only is it possible to drink and not get tipsy, let alone drunk, most people who drink do so without getting drunk all the time. I don’t get the least bit buzzed with a single beer or a glass or two of wine with dinner. That’s why there’s a **legal limit** to how much alcohol can be in your bloodstream and still allow you to operate a motor vehicle. On the other hand, one cannot smoke a joint without getting high, if not totally stoned. At least not unless it’s your first time trying it. Most of the time you can’t even take two or three _hits_ without getting high. The comparison between alcohol and pot is nonsensical and absurd. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2008, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-alcohol-use-so-socially-acceptable-required-and-pot-evil/474005/39 "2008-11-23T07:06:29Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > Bars are places of business. Their function is to sell drinks. Designated drivers should stick to non-alcoholic stuff, but they should drink something. Why should the bar allow you on the premises if you are not intending to be a customer? Umm because if you are the DD for three drinkers they are kicking out over a hundred dollars worth of patronage by picking on you? ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2008, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-alcohol-use-so-socially-acceptable-required-and-pot-evil/474005/40 "2008-11-23T07:14:21Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > Sort of related to this, but why do some people feel uncomfortable if they’re ordering a drink but you’re not? People start drinking alcohol, principally, as a social behavior (i.e. peer pressure.) It throws people off when someone is operating outside the pack, but being pack animals, we’re then thrown into the issue of needing to decide whether to play cool with the non-drinking pack that we are currently with, or go with the dominant pack that we’re usually a member of. Maybe the current one has a thing against drinking at all and will think less of us. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-alcohol-use-so-socially-acceptable-required-and-pot-evil/474005.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-alcohol-use-so-socially-acceptable-required-and-pot-evil/474005.md?page=3)