Joe -
Behind your question I think is someone asking "Was the drinking that I did when I was younger just normal for that age; and therefore something that I have grown out of?"
Being an equally blunt person to some of the other forum posters, I would say that "normal people haven't gone to rehab", even during their younger drinking days. Their bodies hit about 2 or 3 drinks and say "hey, I don't like this anymore and so I will stop."
We don't do that. Our bodies say "why stop?"
Alwaysgrowing hit the nail on the head ... Normies don't have the conversation that you are having with yourself. Normies don't wake up in the middle of the night pondering if the can now handle their alcohol. Normies can take it or leave it.
So, using that logic, if someone is a Normie and they have the background experience that you have with alcohol, logic would say that they should abstain because they know the potential downside. When they compare the downside to the upside of trying to drink again, the decision is easy for them --- and since they can "take it or leave it" this wouldn't bother them.
If it is bothering you, I suspect you have your answer.