Thank you for your responses everyone!
I tried many different things--including drinking only beer because of the low alcohol content. Regardless, I'd still end up in the same place (I'd only drink more of it).
It also didn't help that I lived in a place of excess--it's completely normal for people do do crazy things while drinking alcohol / taking something else. So if I was to say 'hey, I don't think I should drink today b/c I got too wasted the last time' someone would jump in and say 'that's nothing, I did *insert crazier thing* everyone does it!' It made me think that 'hey, I'm not the worst of the lot so I can keep drinking' or 'maybe if I drink only beer/wine/spritzers/etc then I may have more control.' I was totally wrong of course.
I'm trying to come up with different social gatherings I can go to instead of parties with free flowing booze (which is the norm where I live--everyone in their 20s to 30s to 40s to 50s party like they're dying tomorrow).