The Case Against the Legal Commercial Sale of Addictive Substances: An Evidence-Based Analysis of Caffeine, Nicotine, and Alcohol

This preprint presents a comprehensive public health and epidemiological analysis of the legal commercial sale of addictive substances, specifically focusing on nicotine, alcohol, and caffeine. The author argues that legal commercial markets are inherently engineered to maximize consumption, normalize usage, and exploit neurobiological vulnerabilities for continuous revenue, fundamentally conflicting with global public health objectives. By synthesizing the Commercial Determinants of Health framework with the behavioral economics of cue-triggered decision processes, the paper demonstrates how the widespread availability of addictive products hijacks the brain's hedonic forecasting mechanism. The analysis defines a public-health-centric prohibition model not as the punitive criminalization of end-users, but as the systematic dismantling of profit-driven supply chains, aggressive marketing, and pervasive retail access. The report provides distinct evaluations for each substance. For combustible tobacco, it advocates for a complete commercial phaseout intrinsically paired with accessible pharmacological cessation aids like cytisine and varenicline. For alcohol, it highlights the staggering global morbidity and mortality burden, utilizing Scotland's Minimum Unit Pricing policy as a case study for structural market intervention, while emphasizing the need for robust medical detoxification infrastructure if commercial sales are phased out. Finally, the paper details the unique A2A-D2 receptor neurobiology of caffeine, arguing that its significantly lower epidemiological harm necessitates highly targeted, proportional regulatory responses rather than categorical market bans.