A Case Against Alcohol Prohibition In India

Alcohol is usually good in moderation and bad in excess. It is a mixed blessing, except for a small section of population that becomes dependent on it, for which it is only a curse. Alcohol addiction can be devastating to the addicts and their families. A knee jerk solution of complete prohibition has been tried in various parts of the world to solve the problem of addiction but without much success. Despite all evidence to the contrary, many parts of India continue to enforce a counterproductive alcohol ban. In addition to prohibition, senseless taxation policies, socioeconomic disparities and other shortcomings, add to the alcohol woes of India. Unfortunately alcohol regulation has become highly politicized, with the interference of religious influences in a constitutionally secular India becoming an ever-growing trend. Despite there being plenty of examples of disasters of knee-jerk alcohol regulation policies, such as the infamous US prohibition, India has been repeating several mistakes of the West. This book makes a case for evidence based alcohol regulation instead of prohibition in India.