July 2, 2026
Like me, some people abstain from alcoholic beverages. But unlike me, some of them don't care about alcohol freedom.
They should.
There are many reasons why some people abstain from alcoholic beverages. Some have had a drinking problem in the past and have sworn off alcohol. Some have seen firsthand what drinking alcohol did to a friend or family member and don't want to end up in the same boat. Some abstain from alcohol because they are health conscious. Some have never drunk alcohol and are leery about starting to do so. Some just don't like the taste of alcoholic beverages. Some are trying to set a good example for their children. Some women abstain because they are pregnant or nursing. Some are afraid of what they might do or say under the influence of alcohol. Many abstain for religious reasons. This includes Mormons, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Seventh-day Adventists, and many conservative, evangelical, and fundamentalist Christians, of which I am one.
Nothing in this article should be considered as promoting the use of alcohol or defending the use of alcohol. If you don't drink alcoholic beverages-for whatever reason-then keep abstaining. If you do drink alcoholic beverages, then I hope you will drink in moderation and not operate machinery or get behind the wheel of a car. It is ultimately your decision to drink alcohol and accept responsibility for its effects on your physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health. The decision is not mine, and it is certainly not the government's decision.
I am also not ignoring the risks and potential negative effects of alcohol. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( CDC):
- Your liver can only process small amounts of alcohol. The rest of the alcohol can harm your liver and other organs as it moves through the body.
- Using alcohol excessively on occasion or over time can have immediate and long-term health risks.
- By drinking less alcohol, you can improve your health and well-being.
- About 178,000 people die from excessive alcohol use each year in the United States.
The effects of short-term alcohol use include the increased risk of injuries, violence, and alcohol poisoning. The effects of long-term alcohol use include cancer, high blood pressure, heart disease, liver disease, stroke, digestive problems weaker immune system, depression, anxiety, learning problems, memory problems, and relationship problems.
So, why do we need alcohol freedom, and why should abstainers care about alcohol freedom?
I have written many times about the need for alcohol freedom and won't belabor the point here. Most alcohol restrictions, rules, and regulations are state laws, and vary depending on the state. These concern things like: beer with high-alcohol content, operating days and hours for establishments that sell or serve alcohol, alcohol sales in grocery stores, government ownership of liquor stores, government control of the wholesale liquor market, the drinking age, dry counties, happy hours, parents serving alcohol to their minor children, home production of beer and wine, open containers of alcohol in public, and liquor licenses.
Abstainers should care about the freedom of commerce in alcohol and the freedom of consumption of alcohol for the same reason they should care about the freedom to buy and sell whatever items they want to and the freedom to do whatever actions they want to. In both cases, the only caveat is that no one violate the personal or property rights of others while doing it.
Alcohol shouldn't be treated differently from any other commodity. Alcohol shouldn't be taxed more than any other commodity. Business that sell alcohol shouldn't be subject to any more rules and regulations than businesses that don't.
It is not the proper role of government to be in the alcohol business, like it is in so many states. It is not the proper role of government to keep people from harming themselves with alcohol or any other substance or activity. It is not the proper role of government to criminalize private, peaceful activity that does not violate the personal or property rights of others. It is not the proper role of government to interfere with commerce between willing buyers and willing sellers. It is not the proper role of government to tell people what substances they can and can't consume.
A government with the authority to prohibit or restrict the sale and use of alcohol has the same authority to prohibit or restrict any substance or activity-including the ones that alcohol abstainers wish to partake of or in.
Abstainers should favor alcohol freedom even if they don't consume alcohol, would never consume alcohol, don't want anyone else to consume alcohol, believe that consuming alcohol is sinful or immoral, or think that alcohol is addictive, unhealthy, dangerous, or deadly. They should prefer a free society to dry society.
Religious groups who seek to use the power of the state to prohibit people from purchasing or consuming alcoholic beverages, or make it difficult for people to do so, are enemies of a free society. Religious people should be the last people to use the power of the government to force people to behave in a certain way. And regarding Christianity in particular, there are no principles in the Bible that would mandate or suggest to Christians that they use the force of government to prevent people from doing something just because they don't like it. Religious individuals should listen to the wisdom of the great Austrian economist Ludwig von Mises:
A free man must be able to endure it when his fellow men act and live otherwise than he considers proper. He must free himself from the habit, just as soon as something does not please him, of calling for the police. He who wants to reform his countrymen must take recourse to persuasion. This alone is the democratic way of bringing about changes. If a man fails in his endeavors to convince other people of the soundness of his ideas, he should blame his own disabilities. He should not ask for a law, that is, for compulsion and coercion by the police.
Alcohol freedom is just as much part of a free society as religious freedom.