Originally Posted by JeffreyAK

That was me in my mid-20's through around 40. I drank a lot in college and built up a tolerance, but it was weekend binge drinking only, and once I left that environment I was a light occasional drinker with much lower tolerance for years. Over those years my drinking did slowly escalate to weekend binges again, but I was past 40 before it became an addictive thing.

I don't buy into the stages either. We humans like to create divisions and boxes for people and things, but they can lead us astray when we're really looking at a smooth continuum. If drinking is a problem for you, stop and it will stop being a problem, and meanwhile you will enjoy life on it's own terms.