It's hard to fathom there was ever a time when doctors recommended smoking.
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Yet, not that long ago cigarettes were advertised by men in white coats as "refreshing" and "clean."
Today, it's universally understood that smoking is one of the most damaging things you can do to your body. Smoking rates have plummeted with that knowledge.
The same cultural reckoning is coming for alcohol. How long before we look back on the way we consumed a product that is essentially a poison and be shocked at how cavalier we've been?
This is not a case for prohibition - we only need to look at the "war on drugs" to see how counterproductive that can be.
But it's a sign of cultural maturity that, like tobacco, alcohol is moving from being socially essential to something increasingly questioned.
Young people are at the vanguard of this change. They've grown up with better health information and a sharper radar for marketing spin.
While previous generations were raised to view drinking as the lynchpin of belonging and national identity, today's young people are asking why they need to drink at all.
New figures from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey, found Gen Z are nearly 20 times more likely to choose not to drink compared to Baby Boomers, even adjusting for sociodemographic factors.
It's a remarkable turnaround, given just 17 years ago, Australia was in the grip of a youth alcohol crisis, prompting the Rudd government to launch a $53 million national binge drinking strategy.
As the HILDA report's authors observed of the growing number of young people turning away from alcohol, "This isn't just a phase; it appears to be a sustained change in behaviour."
The parallels with tobacco's trajectory are undeniable. With smoking, the biggest shift came when the science became so indisputable consumers could no longer ignore the dangers, and fewer people took up the habit.
Despite Big Tobacco trying to conceal the evidence, the turning point was a 1964 US Surgeon-General report definitively linking smoking to a 70 per cent increased risk of death and a 20-fold increase in lung cancer risk.
Earlier this year, the outgoing US Surgeon General issued an advisory that alcohol should carry mandatory health labels, warning of its links to at least seven types of cancer.
Labelling legislation is already under way in Ireland and South Korea, highlighting alcohol as a group one carcinogen - the same category as tobacco and asbestos.
It's a link the World Health Organisation first identified in 1988, but it struggled to gain traction in a culture where drinking was not only socially accepted, but expected.
Now, just as "no safe level of smoking" is etched into public consciousness, there is increasing recognition that alcohol is harmful, even in small amounts.
Supercharging the culture shift in a way we didn't see with tobacco is technology.
Digital tools now offer support to change unhealthy drinking patterns, and social media amplifies positive stories of alcohol-free living.
Health-conscious young people embracing ice baths and run clubs see sobriety as an investment in self. Their lifestyle is supported by a booming non-alcoholic drinks sector, marketing zero-alcohol drinks as a fun, mindful way to enjoy the party without the hangover.
We're seeing this first-hand. When Hello Sunday Morning's online alcohol behaviour change community began 15 years ago, the majority of members were in their early 20s Now, most people seeking support are in their mid-40s and beyond.
Prevention works best when you reach people before habits form - this is how generational renewal transforms a culture. When being smoke-free became aspirational and seen as empowering rather than embarrassing, cigarette sales slumped.
But the culture wouldn't have changed without parallel policy levers. Bans on tobacco sponsorship, advertising restrictions and increased taxation were pivotal.
This is where we're lagging with alcohol. Marketing still saturates sport, television, film, media and music -spaces popular with young people. It's a calculated move to win back the sober curious generation as alcohol sales continue a sustained decline.
While alcohol companies adopt Big Tobacco's playbook of denial, deflection and mischaracterising those who highlight the evidence as puritanical killjoys, the endpoint for public health advocates is not to ban drinking.
We need strong political leadership to ensure the science is understood so people can make informed choices, and appropriate restrictions to curb alcohol's enormous cost, in health problems, accidents, injuries, lost productivity, crime and social harm.
The tipping point will come when most Australians view alcohol the way we now see cigarettes: a personal choice with risks. We're not there yet but the tide is turning.
As more people realise they can drink less and live more, the shift will only accelerate.
- Dr Nicole Lee is chief executive of Hello Sunday Morning and adjunct professor at the National Drug Research Institute.
