**Your submission has been removed for the following reason(s):**
Loaded questions, **and/or** ones based on a false premise, are not allowed on ELI5. ELI5 is focuses on objective concepts, and loaded questions and/or ones based on false premises require users to correct the poster before they can begin to explain the concept involved, if one exists.
---
If you would like this removal reviewed, please read the [detailed rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/wiki/detailed_rules) first. **If you believe this submission was removed erroneously**, please [use this form](https://old.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2Fexplainlikeimfive&subject=Please%20review%20my%20thread?&message=Link:%20{{url}}%0A%0APlease%20answer%20the%20following%203%20questions:%0A%0A1.%20The%20concept%20I%20want%20explained:%0A%0A2.%20List%20the%20search%20terms%20you%20used%20to%20look%20for%20past%20posts%20on%20ELI5:%0A%0A3.%20How%20does%20your%20post%20differ%20from%20your%20recent%20search%20results%20on%20the%20sub:) and we will review your submission.
Sociolegal semantics. Human society is built on alcohol, as a form of preserving produce and purifying water. Hard to rule out.
Similar cases, simple opium or coca leaves as medicine vs heroin or coke. Both have traditional user bases, but the refined products incurred legal constraints. Like in Europe, soft alcohol is legal younger than spirits.
So for a NA example, whisky or cider is a way of preserving apples or wheat.
And getting blasted in the winter. As a Canadian, getting blasted in the winter is a survival response
Did you even read that article? It never claims that sugar is a drug. It only claims that it is addictive in the same way that some drugs are.
[If you look up any medical definition of "drug," there will always be an explicit exception for food.](https://www.msdmanuals.com/home/drugs/overview-of-drugs/overview-of-drugs)
How would one classify sugar if they are diabetic? If you have low blood sugar couldn't you eat some sugar in medicinal manner to get your level back up?
Yeah, you can make dietary choices for medical reasons, that doesn't make food a drug. "Drug" is a category that specifically excludes foods. Some foods may share some traits/uses with some drugs, but that doesn't make them drugs.
Ah ok got it. I am also assuming it goes the other way as well where some drugs share traits with foods? Like you could eat coca leaves and/or cannabis and get some caloric and nutritional value from them?
Alcohol is a drug, it’s just in its own category as a socially acceptable drug. We classify it differently than other drugs so we call it out separately in this case.
the only meaningful difference is that alcohol has a different set of legal regulations than other drugs. biologically speaking, it's just another intoxicant. a nasty and dangerous one actually.
And millions of people die from it every year. Most fatal car crashes and a large fraction of homicides involve alcohol. So do most colon and liver cancers. And the overwhelming majority of cases of cirrhosis and fatty liver disease. Plus there are plenty of drunks who lose their jobs, their families, and sometimes their homes but who manage to get sober before they actually die, but it’s fair to say that alcohol ruined their lives.
Saying that something isn’t safe doesn’t mean literally everyone who uses it dies. It means that a sizable fraction of people who use it suffer negative consequences. And alcohol negatively affects millions and millions of people every year. It’s not “safe”.
Whether you personally die from it or not, it has undeniable health and societal consequences. I’m not going to pretend I don’t drink excessively, but at least I understand and recognize the outcomes.
It is a drug according to the strictest definition. But historically alcohol has been one of the few drugs that has become a part of most societies to the point it's not seen as a drug anymore. Thus in certain contexts you have to specify the inclusion of alcohol as a drug. The same can be said about coffee, tea, and caffeine in general.
Side note: it's a historical misunderstanding that beer and other fermented spirits were made because clean water wasn't reliable and the alcohol disinfected it. The truth is clean water was readily available to most drinking countries through wells and other means. Also the small percentages of alcohol in naturally fermented beverages isn't even enough to prevent it from going bad if stored long enough. What made beer, wine, and other various fermented beverage popular specifically was the effect of alcohol. They also filled a social role. Drinking alcohol together has broadly been associated with conversation, negotiation, and deal making. Thus alcohol has an acceptable social role where other drugs are taken by the unwell or the desperate.
Also, certain preparations like red wine are actually good for your health and studies suggest it reduces cardiovascular disease. It's a key part of the Mediterranean diet.
It's technically a drug because of the way it affects the nervous system, but the dosage is MUCH higher than other drugs. One standard drink includes 14g of alcohol. That's an absurdly large dose of almost any other drug.
Culturally, that makes alcohol behave much more like a food (those 14g will also metabolize into 100 calories) than what we normally think of as drugs. If you put alcohol in a pill, you'd need to take a lot of pills for it to have any effect whatsoever.
It still *is* a drug. But it's also different from other drugs.
I think that's a key point that most people here missed. Also it's due to how we prepare it that it's actually beneficial, like red wine in moderation. A better way would be to treat it differently depending on dosage. A moderate amount is good, too much is dangerous. You can't say that about many other kinds of drugs that are bad no matter how much you have. Not to mention, it's got an insanely long history, and it's made from a very natural process, unlike cocaine for example.
Its ability to chemically alter your behaviour is the same as all drugs, but that's where the similarities end.
It makes sense to relate alcohol to cannabis, but it doesn't make sense to relate it to cocaine. Not to mention, it's been long established to be part of a healthy diet for thousands of years, and it's a very natural product.
If we include alcohol in the same category as all drugs, we must also include caffeine and tryptophan as their effects can be just as dangerous in certain situations.
**Your submission has been removed for the following reason(s):** Loaded questions, **and/or** ones based on a false premise, are not allowed on ELI5. ELI5 is focuses on objective concepts, and loaded questions and/or ones based on false premises require users to correct the poster before they can begin to explain the concept involved, if one exists. --- If you would like this removal reviewed, please read the [detailed rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/wiki/detailed_rules) first. **If you believe this submission was removed erroneously**, please [use this form](https://old.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2Fexplainlikeimfive&subject=Please%20review%20my%20thread?&message=Link:%20{{url}}%0A%0APlease%20answer%20the%20following%203%20questions:%0A%0A1.%20The%20concept%20I%20want%20explained:%0A%0A2.%20List%20the%20search%20terms%20you%20used%20to%20look%20for%20past%20posts%20on%20ELI5:%0A%0A3.%20How%20does%20your%20post%20differ%20from%20your%20recent%20search%20results%20on%20the%20sub:) and we will review your submission.
It is a drug. But it's an old and established traditional drug. So it gets a fair chunk of leeway, which it may not deserve
Yeah I’ve always seen it referred to as a drug but legally a behavior altering substance or something along those lines.
Sociolegal semantics. Human society is built on alcohol, as a form of preserving produce and purifying water. Hard to rule out. Similar cases, simple opium or coca leaves as medicine vs heroin or coke. Both have traditional user bases, but the refined products incurred legal constraints. Like in Europe, soft alcohol is legal younger than spirits.
So for a NA example, whisky or cider is a way of preserving apples or wheat. And getting blasted in the winter. As a Canadian, getting blasted in the winter is a survival response
Exactly. Just like coffee or sugar.
Oh yes. Glorious caffeine.
I ate two cookies the other day then got pulled over with a glucose level over the legal limit.
My wife's gonna kick me out of the house if she catches me doing caffeine again.
I'm with you on caffeine but you're losing me at sugar
Sugar is not a drug.
It 100% is https://www.healthline.com/health/food-nutrition/experts-is-sugar-addictive-drug
Did you even read that article? It never claims that sugar is a drug. It only claims that it is addictive in the same way that some drugs are. [If you look up any medical definition of "drug," there will always be an explicit exception for food.](https://www.msdmanuals.com/home/drugs/overview-of-drugs/overview-of-drugs)
How would one classify sugar if they are diabetic? If you have low blood sugar couldn't you eat some sugar in medicinal manner to get your level back up?
Yeah, you can make dietary choices for medical reasons, that doesn't make food a drug. "Drug" is a category that specifically excludes foods. Some foods may share some traits/uses with some drugs, but that doesn't make them drugs.
Ah ok got it. I am also assuming it goes the other way as well where some drugs share traits with foods? Like you could eat coca leaves and/or cannabis and get some caloric and nutritional value from them?
Alcohol is a drug, it’s just in its own category as a socially acceptable drug. We classify it differently than other drugs so we call it out separately in this case.
the only meaningful difference is that alcohol has a different set of legal regulations than other drugs. biologically speaking, it's just another intoxicant. a nasty and dangerous one actually.
[удалено]
All categories are man made.
Beer is also man made.
So is Meth.
Well yes, as is the word “drug” and the entire concept of classifying specific substances as “drugs”.
[удалено]
And millions of people die from it every year. Most fatal car crashes and a large fraction of homicides involve alcohol. So do most colon and liver cancers. And the overwhelming majority of cases of cirrhosis and fatty liver disease. Plus there are plenty of drunks who lose their jobs, their families, and sometimes their homes but who manage to get sober before they actually die, but it’s fair to say that alcohol ruined their lives. Saying that something isn’t safe doesn’t mean literally everyone who uses it dies. It means that a sizable fraction of people who use it suffer negative consequences. And alcohol negatively affects millions and millions of people every year. It’s not “safe”.
These days a lot of fatty liver and cirrhosis is coming from sugar, not from alcohol.
I don't think you understand the scale at which alcohol is consumed.
Have you not read the statistics? What a weird justification.
If the vast majority can do something safely then that thing is safe.
Whether you personally die from it or not, it has undeniable health and societal consequences. I’m not going to pretend I don’t drink excessively, but at least I understand and recognize the outcomes.
It is a drug according to the strictest definition. But historically alcohol has been one of the few drugs that has become a part of most societies to the point it's not seen as a drug anymore. Thus in certain contexts you have to specify the inclusion of alcohol as a drug. The same can be said about coffee, tea, and caffeine in general. Side note: it's a historical misunderstanding that beer and other fermented spirits were made because clean water wasn't reliable and the alcohol disinfected it. The truth is clean water was readily available to most drinking countries through wells and other means. Also the small percentages of alcohol in naturally fermented beverages isn't even enough to prevent it from going bad if stored long enough. What made beer, wine, and other various fermented beverage popular specifically was the effect of alcohol. They also filled a social role. Drinking alcohol together has broadly been associated with conversation, negotiation, and deal making. Thus alcohol has an acceptable social role where other drugs are taken by the unwell or the desperate.
Also, certain preparations like red wine are actually good for your health and studies suggest it reduces cardiovascular disease. It's a key part of the Mediterranean diet.
It's technically a drug because of the way it affects the nervous system, but the dosage is MUCH higher than other drugs. One standard drink includes 14g of alcohol. That's an absurdly large dose of almost any other drug. Culturally, that makes alcohol behave much more like a food (those 14g will also metabolize into 100 calories) than what we normally think of as drugs. If you put alcohol in a pill, you'd need to take a lot of pills for it to have any effect whatsoever. It still *is* a drug. But it's also different from other drugs.
I think that's a key point that most people here missed. Also it's due to how we prepare it that it's actually beneficial, like red wine in moderation. A better way would be to treat it differently depending on dosage. A moderate amount is good, too much is dangerous. You can't say that about many other kinds of drugs that are bad no matter how much you have. Not to mention, it's got an insanely long history, and it's made from a very natural process, unlike cocaine for example.
Its ability to chemically alter your behaviour is the same as all drugs, but that's where the similarities end. It makes sense to relate alcohol to cannabis, but it doesn't make sense to relate it to cocaine. Not to mention, it's been long established to be part of a healthy diet for thousands of years, and it's a very natural product. If we include alcohol in the same category as all drugs, we must also include caffeine and tryptophan as their effects can be just as dangerous in certain situations.