In Defense of Tobacco and Alcohol

 

My Chinese student had an interesting thought. With alcohol and tobacco made so expensive by government fiat in a place like Canada, what can the average Canadian do to escape their stress? It seems to him a cruel tax on the poor: those who cannot afford a vacation in Acapulco or a yacht or summer cottage or the like.

This prompts a second thought: is this in part why we have a growing crisis with fentanyl, suicide, self-harm, social discord, sudden violence, and “mental illness”? Because we have restricted access to relatively safe and less expensive opiates? 

Yes, we have marijuana expensively but extensively available. But cannabis has a different effect. Yes, we have growing access to video games. But these are not that calming; more exciting.

It is a strength of Chinese culture that they are sensitive to stress and its amelioration. I believe we in European and American culture are lousy at it. We ought to take some lessons here. Worth considering, at least.