People who drink it are not automatically addicted however. From what detox centers have told me, some people have the "addict gene" and some people do not. I have been fortunate enough to not have it from what I can tell after 45 years alive so far.

Too much of anything is bad for us, but I don't mind limited amounts. It is a personal choice what people put into their own bodies of course just as our sexual choices (between consenting adults). If someone wants to have a drink, I have no problem with them.

Alcohol has saved millions of lives in the past when clean water was not easily obtained. The reason our early ancestors drank it is because bacterial and viral contaminations within even slightly fermented drinks is not possible.

They also probably liked the taste and effects, but the main reason was to avoid bad water and the potentially deadly effects of it at the time. Yes, I'm biased though, for I do drink alcohol and also brew my own mead. I brew mead as a health tonic though. The spices and herbs added to the honey greatly enhance the medicinal properties.

Within herbalism too, alcohol is used to make the medicines. When I was a child, my mother would crush up pills and mix it with table sugar! Then they wondered why I stayed sick all the time. Now that was stupid. Give me medicine in alcohol any day over table sugar.