Third, and most importantly, alcoholism is a potentially fatal disease, a fact which shouldn't require much elaboration. It can kill you directly through cirrhosis or some other disorder, or it can kill you indirectly, through traffic accidents, accidental overdose in combination with other drugs, and the like. There are lots of symptoms for this disease. Some are primary and some are secondary, meaning they're the result of the primary symptoms. The three common primary symptoms of alcoholism are tolerance, physical dependence, and organ changes.
Tolerance is the ability to drink without becoming intoxicated.
It's something that occurs in almost every addictive disease, but is often confused with the popular term capacity. Additionally, having a tolerance is a social advantage because you don't have to monitor how much you consume as closely as someone who's worried about getting drunk and looking foolish. Unfortunately, having a tolerance for alcohol often indicated the presence of alcoholism, or the eventual likelihood of contracting the disease. Tolerance represents not strength of will but physical adaptation to the intoxicating properties of alcohol. Although normally a large man will be able to hold more liquor than a small man, the development of high tolerance throws this off completely.