That it's the fuel that fires the vast majority of problems that require police intervention or results in losses of all sorts, lives, property, respect, etc... is completely irrefutable.

I recall an evening spent arguing about the blatant hypocrisies in society's asymmetric approach to drugs and alcohol with the older members of my family. They are all 'respectable' members of the establishment society. And their argument consisted entirely of the arbitrary belief that alcohol is not prohibited because it is the commonly accepted substance that the western world tolerates, nothing more. End of discussion.

I think the 'War on Drugs' is merely a way for the far larger, alcohol-using majority to deny their own substance abuse by finding a 'worse' one to use as a scapegoat. The irony is that they are fully cognizant of the heavy price society pays for both legalization AND prohibition, but policy isn't usually based on science, it's based on prejudices in favor or alcohol, and against 'counterculture drugs'.

The best example of how education can cut down on use (rather than the heavy-handed incarceration method) is in the big decline in tobacco use. Regulating it, stopping kids from getting started, banning it from public places, all have had a big effect.

There's a conspicuous lack of public awareness advertising about the dangers of drinking, compared to anti-tobacco ads. Drunk driving ads, yes, even 'drink responsibly' added to alcoholic beverage ads. But I can't recall ever seeing an ad that says 'drinking is potentially hazardous to your health' outside of the don't-drink-and-drive ads.