I never drink enough to puke or be hungover, just to have fun. 8 beers and some ganja gets me fucked up enough to have fun, but not so fucked up that i'm puking. I don't love the inebriated feeling, but there's a certain freewheeling aspect to it that I do like - I don't combine alcohol with any drugs other than weed, though.
Having a beer or two here and there is quite relaxing, however, as are most things in moderation - by far the best thing about drinking though would be that invincible feeling it gives you. If i'm drunk, I can walk a million miles and not feel shit, and feel up for going anywhere. Stoned, I couldn't give a fuck, I'll walk to get food or go to a park to smoke more, but not much else. I mean, psychedelics and stims obviously are very outdoors, walking kinda drugs as well, but alcohol is so easy to get...cheap way to have a little cheap fun, and if you don't overdo it, I don't see many negatives. Neurotoxicity isn't that much of a problem unless you're binge drinking, and consistently, and I don't get bad hangovers with my rate and level of drinking...especially if I smoke as well, which I almost inevitably do.
btw, I'm a happy, funny drunk, so none of the fighting etc. is applicable to me. I've had some fairly vicious political arguments drunk but nothing else
I just tend to put on a Hunter Thompson-as-portrayed-by-Johnny Depp accent, an irish or cockney accent, do lil john and various other impersonations, and move randomly from conversation to conversation, never adding much but a few jokes and a random movie quote if I feel like it. I rarely come off as sleazy, either...can't remember the last time I hit on a woman shamelessly while drunk. not my style.
