One in 20 of all deaths due to alcohol, says WHO

Every Middle Eastern country I've been to where drinking is restricted is an authoritarian hellscape that I would never set foot in again

Right, fair enough. I understand that you might think like that if you come from a different culture and I respect that (although I would disagree).

Nonetheless, the issue at hand is with the legality of alcohol which is what my initial comment addressed when I said they ''functioned fine''. Yes, in recent years there are problems in the ME (arguably for more geopolitical reasons) but alcohol certainly isn't a reason for/part of them. When it comes to the ban of alcohol, that's barely an issue at all (unlike, say prohibition-era USA) so in that respect, yes, those countries functioned fine on a social level without alcohol.

/r/news Thread Parent Link - theguardian.com