"Here are some simple pieces of advice for the young:
Don't drink on an empty stomach: the main point of the refreshment is the enhancement of food.
Don't drink if you have the blues: it's a junk cure. Drink when you are in a good mood.
Cheap booze is a false economy.
It's not true that you shouldn't drink alone: these can be the happiest glasses you ever drain.
Hangovers are another bad sign, and you should not expect to be believed if you take refuge in saying you can't properly remember last night. (If you really don't remember, that's an even worse sign.)
Avoid all narcotics: these make you more boring rather than less and are not designed—as are the grape and the grain—to enliven company.
Never even think about driving a car if you have taken a drop.
It's much worse to see a woman drunk than a man: I don't know quite why this is true but it just is. Don't ever be responsible for it."
Some words of wisdom from Hitch that I try to stick by when I'm drinking.
Fact is, that without alcohol people feel like they aren't really having fun at these parties/gatherings, so they drink some booze and then all of sudden people feel like they can behave so much differently than before. My problem isn't with what this new behavior consists of, my problem, and their problem, is that they can't act or engage in this behavior WITHOUT ALCOHOL.
I'm not sure why you think people who don't have fun at parties sober have a problem. Fact is, that without alcohol most people find large groups of other people incredibly dull. Alcohol makes other people less tedious, food less bland, and conversation much more interesting.
I can't think of a single time in human history when a party has been thrown that wasn't accompanied by alcohol. The Greeks had that shit locked down 2000 years ago, they even had a name for it. Hell, if you aren't drinking at a social gathering you're the one with the problem.