It's really not that difficult to use it responsibly in moderation. I wouldn't question your personal abstinence, but I would question anyone who broadly demonized alcohol.
While I'm not going to demonize alcohol, I also wouldn't downplay the harm. Alcohol is probably one of the nastier psychoactive substances known to man. Alcohol abuse is pretty common (an estimated number of 15 million Americans); it can create a physical dependence; there is a strong link between alcohol and violence (alcohol is normally classified as a depressant, but a significant minority of alcoholics become violent); alcohol is involved in the majority of car accidents. Plus, of course, the health problems that excessive alcohol consumption can cause.
That does not mean that people should be teetotalers (in the end, only a minority of drinkers is thus affected, though a scarily sizable one); but it is important to understand that alcohol abuse is both frequent and dangerous regardless.
> ...alcohol is involved in the majority of car accidents.
This didn't sound right to me, so I did some digging and found:
"In 2010, 10,228 people were killed in alcohol-impaired driving crashes, accounting for nearly one-third (31%) of all traffic-related deaths in the United States."
I couldn't find any data on non-fatal car accidents, but my intuition says that it would be a smaller proportion (i.e. alcohol-related accidents are more likely to be fatal).
Which makes me think - if we could develop a culture that is largely accommodates use of such powerful and nasty stuff, and despite its harmful consequences there are an overwhelming majority of people who can and do enjoy it responsibly without harming themselves, and our society is nowhere near being destroyed by it despite all the problems that exist - we certainly could deal with less nasty stuff too, without putting everybody who touches it in prison for 20 years. I mean, if we wanted to...
> It's a nervous system depressant. This does not mean it makes you emotionally depressed.
Depressants usually have calming effects (hence the colloquialism "downers"); relaxation and removal of inhibitions are common effects (see also the OP about using drinks to wind down from stress). I don't see how that is at odds with what I wrote.
> It is extrememly unlikely alcohol is involved in the majority of car accidents. Please post a source.
You're correct, I misremembered that. The study (a) looked at drivers killed in accidents, and (b) it was alcohol or drugs. Alcohol was involved in only 40.2% of these fatalities.
For some people it is "difficult to use it responsibly in moderation". They are the people with problems. People who "broadly demonize" alcohol? They have problems too.
