Super-strength alcohol 'is killing more ... than crack or heroin'

Of course because the actual headline has the words 'homeless people' in the '...' it will be taken less seriously. But I'm interested because of the link to drugs policy. The popular press's knee-jerk reaction to deaths from substance abuse is to call for bans. There's a hypocrisy about this because it's almost certain that we will not hear calls for illegalising alcohol despite the huge health and mortality figures associated with it. Yet what, essentially, is the difference between that and, say, cannabis, or cocaine? The biggest problems with the latter are those caused by the crime they produce and that is a function of their classification as banned substances. Rather than treating alcohol like these drugs which would be a logical response on precedent, perhaps it's time to treat these substances like alcohol and nicotine: regulate, tax, educate and treat. Portugal has been doing so for the last 9 years, I can't find indications that it has made society worse there; something of the reverse, in fact. Nor have I heard horror stories from holiday-makers coming back from Portugal, many of whom, I suspect, have never even realised what Portugal's laws on drugs are.

Super-strength alcohol 'is killing more homeless people than crack or heroin' | Society | The Observer: "these drinks are killing more people than heroin or crack,"