Health warnings about alcohol give only half the story. Enjoyment matters as well as risk.

The WHO says flatly that there is “no safe level” of alcohol consumption.⁠ But over-zealousness can be counter-productive. Many people enjoy the taste of a good beer or wine, or appreciate the buzz that alcohol provides, or take pleasure in the social rituals, like a pub trip or a dinner party, which it lubricates. All that pleasure and enjoyment belongs on the scales alongside the (equally real) harm and suffering.