Travis: alcohol is cheap  because the state doesn't tax it. Sure they take a few cents to make it look like a tax, but it isn't. This year the state of Alaska will take in $40million in alcohol tax and turn around and spend $640million cleaning up the mess from that substance. Under the pot law, there are mega-taxes at all levels and the state will never spend one thin dime cleaning up the mess because there is none. That is the stark difference.