Not drinking alcohol can kill you. Your friends have been telling you this for years. Now science weighs in: teetotalers die earlier than heavy drinkers. Blackberry brandy and Mad Dog 20/20 are the right medicine for longevity. There's a reason drinkers toast to good health before imbibing.

Drunks out live nondrinkers because it's usually the drunkdrivers killing nondrinkers and not the other way around.

"Never drink because you need it, for this is rational drinking, and the way to death and hell. But drink because you do not need it, for this is irrational drinking, and the ancient health of the world."

-G.K. Chesterton

There's an old saying that God invented alcohol so that the Irish wouldn't take over the world.

As a second generation Hibernian imbiber with a conscience and a moderate jones for the spirits, I'll stand by that.

Two drinks per day for men and one per day for women on the average is the optimum amount. This is what they say at least. I knew there was a good reason I liked to drink.

I used to drink a lot and it nearly killed me (I'll spare you the details as to how.) When my doctor told me I had to cut way back, I just quit. I figured that was easier. (And it was...I haven't had a drink since November 2001).

If your reading this and are a moderate drinker, I'm not going to preach to you. In fact, I will praise you for having the discipline to be a moderate drinker, which I obviously never had.

But I really believe that anyone who has a drinking problem (which I define as drinking that's excessive to the point of seriously disrupting your life in some way) should not fool around with moderation. Quitting is the best way to solve the problem.

babaydoc3 - I could not agree with you more.

Drinking is a curse for a lot of people and the loss of time, money, resources and human interaction and achievement can not be summed or underestimated.