>>76751339
>I don’t understand society’s obsession with it
Honest to god, its a social lubricant. As someone who drank heavily in college, it was only appealing for parties/hanging out with people IRL/etc. If there was no hanging out, it did nothing but just....made you feel drunk. which wasn't that amazing. But it works amazingly well at helping you relax and have fun socially. That's what its for.
I think society rapidly moved away from IRL hangouts/parties and its 90% online interactions, so drinking rates have dropped because of it. In my 30s and I don't hang out with anyone online, its basically all IRL, and drinking is still fun as hell for that, but I hate drinking alone (did it out of boredom, wasn't worth the hangovers).
I did every drug under the sun in college and no shit I think alcohol in a social setting > opioids = amphetamines >> alcohol alone for me.