Tarm: If I'm not mistaken I think Russia is slowly recognising the same problem.
If I'm not mistaken, the average life expectancy of russian men at the moment is somewhere in the 50s. That's low, and it's basically because they smoke and drink themselves to death. Seriously, there are a LOT of widows in Russia ...
orcishgamer: Pot is not the only drug I think you folks over-react too, but it's the easiest to argue about due to the sheer amount of data available.
We've always had a very conservative additude towards all kinds of stimulants. In fact, up until 1922 ALL alcohol was banned. The institution that would later morph into a wholly state-owned monopoly on alcohol distribution started as a result of trade negotiations with France around wine.
Since then we just never really bothered changing the model. Most people are happy with it. The high cost of alcohol helps keep consumption down, without a doubt. I mean, at some level you have to recognize that we are among the top bilge drinkers in the world, as any trip to a destination frequented by travelling norwegians should prove. Therefore we pretty much freely choose to tax it to heaven come, and I can't recall there ever being much political pressure or movement towards changing this system, at least not since we lifted almost all import bans.