Hysteria is an overreaction by definition. Not sure how that could ever be considered reasonable. Abuse needs to be addressed, including root causes where possible. Alcohol is definitely a public health problem, as are other drugs. Getting hysterical is not a great way to address it.

Ok resorting to dictionary definitions isn't helping. The title is hyperbolic, that's where we started from - "gin hysteria". Its a stand-in for 'great societal concern' or for 'widespread abuse', isn't it?

Was it warranted, that's the question I was following. And I think it was (and perhaps still is to a lesser degree). Since Britain was a situation of 'most people drunk most of the time', and here in America its '1 in 10 are overindulging', surely its less severe.

Agreed. I think what Im getting at is that (in my mind at least and I certainly could be wrong here) I just dont think it was some huge majority of people drinking gin to the point of being drunk all of the time. I recently was "lucky" enough to be in between contracts for longer than I want to be. I had nothing to do and no prospects. I could have gotten sloshed and wasted all day every day. But I didnt. Why? Because 1) I hate to feel hungover and 2) I dont really like being drunk except on very very rare(and as I age getting rarer) occasions. I just dont think people are wired to all be alcoholics on a mass scale. Its certainly a problem with too many people but not as much as described in gin hysteria. However Im a sample size of 1, and I wasnt there.