I want to be happy and sober but don't know if my drinking really is a substitute for just the crazy smoking of the last five years or if I 'just like my drink' more than most. I want to stop the drinking too because I feel like even though I've given up the pot I'm not truly addressing the underlying causes of my inability to be sober, or wanting to be sober.
If you want to be sober, does it really matter if the drinking is a substitute for pot? Both are mind-altering substances. If you want to know if you have a drinking problem, why not try an experiment of not drinking for say...30 days, and see if you can do it easily. During that time, don't smoke any pot or take any other mind-altering substances. If you can easily do that, then you might not have an alcohol problem. If you can't, then you'll know that you probably do.