Why The World Still Can’t Agree About Alcohol

Last month, my home country of the Netherlands published new health guidelines advising people to not just limit their alcohol intake, but to avoid it entirely. There is no such thing as drinking responsibly or in moderation, one researcher said: “Each glass is harmful, for yourself and others.” To be clear, I am neither a doctor nor a scientist. I will not downplay alcohol’s negative health consequences. Still, I believe there is room for a nuanced exploration of the costs and benefits of drinking. At a glance, de-normalizing alcohol consumption seems like a logical next step after cracking down on smoking. But as societies everywhere ramp up efforts to discourage drinking, a bigger, more difficult question arises. Are the increasingly thorough measures we take to protect our health worth what we give up? This dilemma is arguably more apparent with alcohol than with tobacco. Although alcoholism is terrible and, in many places, widespread, the vast majority of people who drink are not considered to be addicts. So why do so many of us drink? Most of us do so for reasons other than managing the symptoms of addiction. Across the globe, alcohol is used to honor, celebrate, and connect....