People don't understand alcoholism because the problem isn't in the bottle. It's in and around us. Everywhere. Sobriety only starts when we put down the drink, but repairing the damage we've done to ourselves and others takes hard work, perseverance, patience...use your own adjectives that best describe the process involved in our discovering and nurturing our better selves.
If it were just about putting down the drink, well, we'd then be talking about something else altogether.