As has been pointed out., people who don’t drink are weird for reasons other than the fact they don’t drink (the most obvious one being that a large number of them are recovering alcoholics). Since an interventional study is pretty much impossible here, we’d need some natural experiment (something using drinking bans in Arab countries might work?) to have any real idea if there is causation. Until then, I suggest not-drinking is almost certainly less bad than drinking too much—and perhaps a more natural Schelling point than “I only drink 1-2 drinks per day”).
and perhaps a more natural Schelling point than “I only drink 1-2 drinks per day”
This looks like conjecture. I regularly have a pint of beer (about 1.5 UK standard measures) with dinner and don’t particularly feel I’m on a slippery slope either way.
As has been pointed out., people who don’t drink are weird for reasons other than the fact they don’t drink (the most obvious one being that a large number of them are recovering alcoholics). Since an interventional study is pretty much impossible here, we’d need some natural experiment (something using drinking bans in Arab countries might work?) to have any real idea if there is causation. Until then, I suggest not-drinking is almost certainly less bad than drinking too much—and perhaps a more natural Schelling point than “I only drink 1-2 drinks per day”).
This looks like conjecture. I regularly have a pint of beer (about 1.5 UK standard measures) with dinner and don’t particularly feel I’m on a slippery slope either way.