Every man I have ever lived with, with the exception of my brother, drinks every day. As has been mentioned earlier alcohol is the only thing JW's are allowed to do guilt or sanction free. They can't even go fishing for bleeps sake. Is it any wonder I have met quite a few in rehabs. I used to get told that drink " was a food" by JW' s. No, its a poison. Besides which many foods can be lethal.
However I totally get how some people cannot face life without it. Or think they can't. I know many people who are dying because of it.
Why is it some can go totally Ott with it in their youth and just stop whenever..and others caught in a cycle of addiction/dependence/depression/death. Christopher Hitchens, despite fully knowing the damage it had caused him, did not regret it and believed he wouldn't have achieved all he had, or been the person he was, had he not regularly imbibed. That is easy to believe when you see his sober, dull, reactionary christian brother