In the past, concerns about its effect on people led to prohibition of the use of alcohol in the United States. Where freely available, it can lead to the serious problem of alcoholism in susceptible individuals. In order to measure alcohol's net effect on health, we would need to compare numbers of lives it may save with the loss of life it causes. Quality of life and health in users and non-users needs to be compared. And perhaps rightfully so.
Cardiovascular disease is our number one killer in the United States.
The article cited indicates that those who drink one drink a day are less likely over the next 9 years to have heart attacks and angina and possibly thrombotic stroke. It described the community of Barrow, Alaska, where alcohol was banned for a period of time, then reintroduced, then banned again, then reintroduced again. The immediate effect each time was that within days of reintroduction the number of outpatient health-care visits and deaths increased, and within days of banning, the number of doctor visits and deaths decreased. As is true of the benefits, the hazards are dose-related. First of all, susceptible individuals become alcoholics.