

You can legally buy 90% spirits that are stronger anyway.
You can, but for instance here in the Nordics, it’s every much harder than just getting a bottle of 40-50%abv from the store.
Estonia sells quite a lot of high abv vodka, but we Finns really don’t have everclear or an equivalent of that, and that’s common in of populations that got hard booze later. As in actually drinkable hard liquor is only about 500 or so years old, although some exited for medical purposes almost 700 years ago.
So if I walk into an Alko in Finland, I won’t find anything stronger than 60%, and those in very small bottles. The strongest drinks in larger bottles are like at most 50-55%.
But you can order rums that are up to 72% and something like 80% vodka perhaps.
But no, Nordics mostly can’t actually legally purchase quality 90% ethanol. And it’s because the stronger drinks came here later which is why we have a bit more alcoholism. It’s just evolution honestly. That’s why also a lot of native American populations have problems with alcohol, because it was introduced relatively recently and the fast evolution is yet to cull out the worst drunks. Sounds super racist but it’s true for us Nords as well, we only got hard liquor properly like 200 years ago when anglosaxons had it for around five centuries.
So Tldr the point is regulation does matter quite a lot. It doesn’t completely prevent and whatnot. But neither does banning murder prevent murder yet we’re alright.
People want to get inebriated, but not lose control. So if the regulations help with that, there’s less losing control, ie less abuse.
Just imagine how horrible it would be if there’s was no regulations in traffic, licenses to drive, etc,
And usually watching US traffic I am kinda horrified by the people you allowed to drive — and don’t even have regulations to have studded tires in winter or winter tyres without studs,
We have to drive on a soap-oil course / water-ice course to get our licences.
So while I disliked bureaucracy and authorities currently in power and whatnot, I can see the benefit of regulations.
Edit today i haven’t taken ambien, just rum and glög













Depends on how you define recent I think, but in most senses of the word, no, not that recent.
We had a bit of a heroin problem in the 90’s apparently (I wasn’t yet in any sort of drug rings as a kid so wouldn’t know myself) and the legend is that actual organised crime in Finland got fed up with heroin and the decided it won’t be sold in Finland anymore. There still is heroin definitely but it’s genuinely fucking rare, especially compared to weed, speed, lsd, etc.
An definitely subutex, which is the buprenorphin. It’s only a partial agonist and there’s narcan in it as well, so it’s impossible/extremely hard to od on it fatally.
In France they cost like 1e a pill here you can sell them for 80. Then you see oxys being sold sometimes, they go for about 1e/mg, so if you buy a mild 10mg it’s a tenner but an 80mg pill would be 80e.
The bupre junkies do get nasty though in health and share needles and all that is still a risk for them, but they won’t accidentally od unlike someone shooting up heroin or fentanyl
Some of them made movie about their life. Then like 6 years later the “protagonist” of that movie was found dead hanging by an extension cord somewhere in Thailand. Suicide or drug debt no-one knows.
If you don’t like seeing people actually inject themselves, with all the “reversing” as well (idk what the term is in English, but junkies sometimes draw back on the needle, so blood shoots back to the syringe and then push again, to flush every little bit of the drug from the syringe).
Reindeerspotting - Escape from Santaland 2010