Alcoholism comes with great burdens on society and is definetely an issue. But in the communication we need to talk about how "risk" is used as a term in the scientific discourse and public discourse. Both scientifically and by common sense it is obvious, that there is a huge gap in the health effects of alcohol between someone who drinks a beer or two on the weekend and someone who drinks 10 bottles a day accompanied with a bottle of vodka.

In the same wake, someone who smokes at a party every few weeks has an entirely different risk than someone who smokes two packs a day.

I'm a bit worried, that by creating a misunderstood communication about the dangers of alcohol, we end up in a 1990/2000s style anti Drug propaganda, where risks were broadly exaggerated and people ended up taking the entire program for the joke it was.

Also people don't drink alcohol because it's safe and healthy but because it's fun or because they are addicted.

And drunk driving

I don't understand why people have problems with other drinking or taking any drugs for that matter. I rarely drink, since I learned to get the effect I desire from alcohol on my own - but others have clearly fun drinking, so why bother?

“You don’t drink? Like never?” “Just a glass?” “But it’s really good” “just try it.” “You can drink a glass and still drive, you know” “woah, i can’t even IMAGINE not to drink.”

You need to change your social circle or so - I can't really remember last time someone tried to pressure me into drinking.

I think it’s only possible to understand how weird drinking is when you don’t drink.

This German satire video substituting heroin for alcohol might make it a bit easier to understand for those immersed in alcohol culture. Unfortunately it only has auto-translated subtitles for other languages.

Look at middle-aged discussion groups on meetup. The ones which involve drinking have the most women (sometimes even a majority) while the others are about 4:1 men.

I'm a bit different. I absolutely love the taste of (most) beer and (many) cocktails, but I don't like being intoxicated and I absolutely hate being drunk. I like my brain working the way it's supposed to, and let's not even mention hangovers.

This is even weirder than not drinking, because everyone "knows" I do drink alcohol.

I quit drinking alcohol as well and looking back on parties and major celebrations I started asking myself if some of the guests were unable to control their alcohol consuption/ were addicted. A few candidates come to mind.

So wouldn't it be sensible to rule out alcohol at all* to protect those who can't protect themselves, without confronting them with the very uncomfortable and intimate questions?

*not legally, but I wouldn't want it on my parties

I was alcoholic and was drunk 4 days a week. I quit 8 years ago and it's my best decision. My health improved a lot and my cognitive capacities too.

I can't remember why I drunk and I now think it was stupid. I just can understand. I'm at the point I can't even eat a chocolate with alcohol. It's like vomiting.

The sensation when you're drunk isn't plaisant. It's seriously bad when I think about it.

The drinking culture is here. People are still surprised when you don't drink. The sometimes don't understand why. I guess it's too deep in the cultural conformism.

The general store drinks (whiskey, vodka) usually go around 30-40% alcohol. The homemade stuff is usually around 40-45% (both grandpas make their own). Anything above that is usually undrinkable (my GF's dad also makes his own, 60-65%). But it varies based on region - Bohemia part has it milder than Moravia).

They've found clay tablets from ancient Sumeria with odes to beer, which they drank out of tall pottery with a spherical bottom and a narrow neck, like a huge bottle. The beer was unfiltered with a LOT of barley sediment, they drank it out of long hollow plant stems, like straws.

It probably isn't with all the entailing health problems.

The L/annum means "pure" alcohol. Nobody is drinking 1,2L of pure alcohol an evening. That's the equivalent of 3L 40% Schnaps, or ~~12L~~ 24L 5% beer.

That technicality aside, alcohol is incredibly expensive in Türkiye. It's basically west European prices by now (for beer), and even more expensive than western Europe for everything else. Also the numbers are probably higher than the 1,2L because a lot of people started making their own alcohol - because of the cost of buying it from the markets.

I was pretty freaked out when I walked through Friedrichshafen on a holiday trip and people sat there on the shore of Bodensee and drank beer at like 8am.