On the topic of studies and premature deaths, a new report from the British medical journal the Lancet says that no amount of alcohol is safe for your overall health. Worldwide, alcohol increases the risk of premature death for both men and women and is responsible for a full tenth of all deaths.
That may be true, and we acknowledge the dangers of excessive alcohol consumption (and indeed of many other excessive behaviors). We wish to make just two points. First: If alcohol doesn’t contribute to your death, something else will, and you are unlikely to derive as much pleasure from that other thing as many people do from spirits. And second: Lots of things can kill you. Leaving your house, driving your car, riding your bike, growing old—all these things make death more likely. It doesn’t follow that you should avoid them or worry yourself to distraction about them.
Now if you’ll excuse us, we need a drink.
