[Xylakant]

oh sure, this is about moderate drinkers, not about people abusing alcohol as a drug. The side effects of moderate use of pretty much every controlled substance are pretty much insignificant as long as you use a pure, unadultered drug (let's forget about croc or battery acid etc). But once you get into heavy use, alcohol starts looking pretty bad: destroys liver and brain among other things, compared to e.g. opium where the worst side effect is constipation. Overdoses obviously kill in both cases, so let's keep that out of the picture here.

[coldtea]

>But once you get into heavy use, alcohol starts looking pretty bad

Well, you can die with heavy dose of water too. Actually not even that heavy, people have died drinking like 7-10 liters.

>The side effects of moderate use of pretty much every controlled substance are pretty much insignificant

Yeah, but the research shows moderate use of alcohol not only doesn't have bad effects (even if insignificant) but it even has significant (measurable) beneficial effects.

[danielbln]

> Yeah, but the research shows moderate use of alcohol not only doesn't have bad effects (even if insignificant) but it even has significant (measurable) beneficial effects.

Citation? Also, what's 'moderate' use for you? A 'standard drink' equals about 10 grams alcohol, the German institute for addiction (DHS) says* that the threshold dose for risk free consumption is at 20 grams per day, with two days break per week. Above you are risking a plethora of health risks, from mouth cancer, to liver deseases, breast cancer and what have you. There are some benficial health effects, but none of them are 'significant'.

*http://www.dhs.de/fileadmin/user_upload/pdf/dhs_stellungnahm...

[thisjepisje]

How many people do you know that use excessive amounts of water recreationally, or are addicted to litres and litres of water?