The effects of excessive consumption of alcohol are enormous. I had many experiences in this regard. When one is intoxicated, it can lead to many consequences. People drink alcohol for many reasons.
Some people consume alcohol to hide their pains and troubles while we have the category that takes it for fun. The former group is into self-deception. Alcohol will never take away someone's troubles. It would rather make one keep the troubles out of mind for a short while. When the eyes are clear, the troubles creep into one's mind again. Alcohol is never a solution.
I knew of a man who would drink alcohol in excess when he wanted to insult his father-in-law. He told me that he used to do that so that onlookers would blame whatever he said on the effects of alcohol.
I used to take alcohol for the fun of it most of the time. On a few occasions, I took alcohol to boost my confidence in doing some things. I remember taking alcohol in a club to boost my confidence in entering the dancing stage. It remains fun and cool when one is in charge of alcohol. It becomes something different when alcohol is in charge of someone. At that stage, you are directed on what to do or say by alcohol. That's when you see people under the influence of intoxication walking on a flat surface and throwing their legs as if the smooth road is filled with potholes. I have had a fair share of the negative effects of alcohol.
All these aforementioned effects are not as severe as the health implications of excessive consumption of alcohol. It puts pressure on the liver and it's very dangerous.
However, when we compare the damaging effects of alcohol with those of hard drugs, the damaging effects of hard drugs are more severe. The problem with hard drugs is that they pose a great danger to the consumer and the people around him or her. Some people under the influence of hard drugs engage in crimes such as rape, robbery, kidnapping and the like. When one is under the influence of hard drugs, the humanity part of such a fellow is suppressed. When some criminals want to go for a deadly operation, they take all sorts of hard drugs so that they can fearlessly execute their missions.
When I was growing up, there were some red spots in my town that young ladies feared, especially when some bad boys were smoking marijuana and injecting themselves with different hard drugs. They become a security threat to girls and every other person in some instances. I don't know of such security threats around the vicinity of where people drink only alcohol. Alcohol poses threats to the consumer while hard drugs pose threats to its consumer and others around him.
If I had the power, I would regulate the consumption of alcohol. I will ban the categories that have a higher percentage of alcoholic content. I will allow those categories that have alcoholic contents of less than 10%. Banning alcohol isn't the solution to the vices we have in society. I will encourage individuals to drink responsibly and enact rules and regulations for the sales and consumption of alcohol.
Everywhere is tensed up due to the harsh economy that people are experiencing. People need to devise a means to have fun as a coping strategy. Alcohol plays a role in this regard. Banning it would make people more frustrated and sad.