I think this is one of those 'how long is a piece of string questions' cuyoutoo.
There's many different stories and many different yardsticks.
Some people I know didn't make it to 20 years drinking but they still died from it.
it's not that, but what was bothering me about the label "alcoholic" is that I am not sure that it's really healthy to identify ones core identity in a word with such negative connotations at any age, but especially as a youngster...
People are just so judgemental about alcoholics, and to define oneself by an illness or character defect seems like a terrible thing to do.
I can still identify myself as an 'alcoholic' here and not accept the cultural baggage or other peoples definitions that might go with it.
D