Alcohol...again

This report yet again draws our attention to the epidemic of binge and underage drinking in the UK.

Why do we drink so much as a nation, and as an age bracket?

Here are my reasons for doing so (I appreciate I'm not an underage drinker, but still I do my fair share every weekend):

1) It's fun (everything is funnier when you're drunk).

2) Things happen that wouldn't normally, which is always interesting (ie because inhibitions disappear, people say and do things out of the norm. So it's kind of like stepping into a different world for a few hours, an alcohol induced Narnia if you will).

3) Escapism from a heavy workload during the rest of the week.

But are these reasons valid? Or have we lost the ability to go out and have a laugh without pickling our internal organs?

I never sit there on a Sunday worrying what damage I've done to my body the night before through drinking. I just drink a shed load of water and think it'll be fine. But the report did make me consider that every weekend I am putting my body through quite a trauma.

Does anyone else ever consider the health issues? Has this report had any effect on you, or are you all die hard hedonists who don't care?