The world’s most-consumed liquid is water, and the drawbacks involved with it are so limited as to be utterly obscure.
By contrast, there has been an overwhelming controversy for the last several eons about the risks and potential benefits of consumption of all other drinks, from cola to coffee to kombucha. And beverages that contain alcohol come in for special criticism.
Several medical institutions long have weighed in against any consumption at all. Rum is still a demon. Yet federal guidelines on alcoholic beverage consumption suggests moderation, not abstinence. And part of the reason is the failed experiment that we called Prohibition that ended 90 years ago. Even Abraham Lincoln once observed that prohibition would do great harm to temperance….