Heck, it’s how leaders in eastern european countries stay in power. When things get shitty, many of these autocrats will intentionally bring down the cost of booze and smokes. A bit of tobacco to make your crappy day a little more tolerable and drunk people can’t plan coups and revolts all that effectively. Stalin did this and Gorbachev tried to do something about the alcoholism in his country but it became one of the reasons (not one of the main ones but it certainly didn’t hurt) for the fall of the USSR.
Guess why american conservatives are panicking over young people drinking less these days?
