If alcohol was discovered today, it would be considered as harmful a substance as opium and it would be banned. But humans have been consuming it for thousands of years, so it’s been normalized and grandfathered into society.
Beer is arguably the foundation of human society. Grain (and the harvesting of it) is a building block of civilization, and beer is inextricably linked to that.
Opium is being consumed for at least 5000 years, and has only been banned (mostly) in the last 150 years. In the 19th century there were two opium wars between western powers and China because the latter banned the use and import of opium. So opium was definitely grandfathered and normalized not too long ago.
We’ve been doing opium for thousands of years and still deem it harmful enough to ban. Hell, it’s bad enough that it has actually been used as a weapon in the past to destabilize nations.
If alcohol was discovered today, it would be considered as harmful a substance as opium and it would be banned. But humans have been consuming it for thousands of years, so it’s been normalized and grandfathered into society.
Beer is arguably the foundation of human society. Grain (and the harvesting of it) is a building block of civilization, and beer is inextricably linked to that.
Opium is being consumed for at least 5000 years, and has only been banned (mostly) in the last 150 years. In the 19th century there were two opium wars between western powers and China because the latter banned the use and import of opium. So opium was definitely grandfathered and normalized not too long ago.
We’ve been doing opium for thousands of years and still deem it harmful enough to ban. Hell, it’s bad enough that it has actually been used as a weapon in the past to destabilize nations.