Stupid drug story of the week: A strange cocktail mixed by the Times

Jack Shafer vents his spleen over a NYT story I posted about earlier this week. His criticism that this story may be hyped is probably fair. However, he also reveals his bias:

Not that long ago, every reporter knew his way around the bottle. He kept a pint in his bottom drawer at work, adjourned to bars for lunch, and as often as not, went to bed with a slight buzz on. But in today's puritanical newsroom, alcohol has become as verboten as methamphetamine, heroin, marijuana, cocaine, and MDMA. Reporters, who could once file dispassionate stories on the topic, have become as hysterical as 12-steppers falling off the wagon when assigned to write a booze story.