Under the law (statute) in Pennsylvania, alcohol is considered a drug and PA is not the only state that declares this to be true. Because alcohol acts as a depressant in the central nervous system, it has been declared as a drug and is treated as the same.If we substitute the word "alcohol" for "drugs," every word said in this thread so far could still apply.
There are people who have let alcohol take over their entire lives, live only for the next drink, and many have sacrificed their life, their health, their job, their family and friends, for their addiction.
There are people who consider alcohol a tool of the Devil, and will not go near it. Or don't use it because they have seen other lives ruined by it. Or are allergic, or just don't like it. When this country had Prohibition, people were locked up for using it. (Sound familiar?)
Most people use it in moderation, for recreational use, relaxation, socialization, etc. It usually does no harm, as long as they refrain from driving, and might be a positive element of life. Obviously, the majority of people have felt that way about it since Biblical times.
So, jerryold, do you feel that users of alcohol should all be locked up indiscriminately? Probably not. Does looking at it that way change your slant on the drug question a little? Do you think the criminal justice system should take measures to stop any and all use of alcohol? And if someone is locked up for that reason, that he has no rights?
While training a new Trooper, we had stopped a driver for driving 'under' the speed limit on the PA Turnpike. (The act of doing this is very dangerous to everyone in the vicinity of this driver.) The highway is posted and states that drivers must do a minimum of 45 mph. This driver was only going 33 mph. While questioning him, the new Trooper and myself noticed him slurring his speech and also unable to stand still without leaning left and right. We performed a field sobriety test and he failed, which gave us probable cause to take him to the hospital to have his drug drawn for a BAL test. His blood alcohol level was a 1.1, which was .03 over the legal level. We charged him with a DWI only and forgave the under speed citation.