David J. Hanson

Who is David J. Hanson?

David Justin Hanson is Professor Emeritus of Sociology at the State University of New York in Potsdam, New York. He has researched the subject of alcohol and drinking for over 30 years, beginning with his PhD dissertation investigation, and has written widely on the subject.

Hanson is often critical of many prevailing views on the effects of alcohol on the body. He contends, for example, that the benefits of moderate drinking outweigh the harms from abusive drinking. Hanson is a critic of many groups that advocate the reduction of alcohol use; he describes these groups as “neo-prohibitionist.”

Hanson criticizes what he calls the "temperance mentality" of many groups and claims that "their tactic is to establish cultural rather than strictly legal prohibition by making alcohol beverages less socially acceptable and marginalizing those who drink, no matter how moderately."

A critic of the 21-year age limit on legal drinking in the United States, he has sat on the board of advisors of the National Youth Rights Association since 1998.

Hanson has published books and other publications on alcohol and maintains two websites on the subject.