For completeness sake, I must mention, for anyone who is following this, that the main reason I don't drink alcoholic beverages is religious - Bahá'u'lláh forbade it.

Now, as an "outsider", I have never had any desire to drink (since I didn't get started with it), nor do I see any advantage to drinking.

>I agree!
>
>I have never been much a of a drinker but a few years ago I made the decision to not drink at all. My ex-husband is an alcoholic who doesn't realize it yet and he has turned to violence with our children. I decided it was important to set an example for our children that alcohol is not needed to celebrate the good times nor is it needed to drown out the bad times. I talk about this often with my children and stress the importance that addictive behaviors can be genetic so they really need to be careful considering the addiction problems in both sides of the family.