JeffreyAK

Well sure, strictly speaking it's (almost) always the effects of alcohol, though some people drink because they like the taste, or because they feel compelled by social pressure even if they hate alcohol (champagne at a wedding reception, for example, my parents were like that). By "buzz" I mean "pleasure", which isn't always true. Can be relief, can be avoidance and to forget, can be for spite, can even be self-destruction.

But I agree, we either drink in response to internal or external pressures, or we don't. We never have to drink, even if it seems like that's the best or even an acceptable option, and if we do drink it's usually helpful to go back and analyze what happened prior to making that choice. Like a root-cause analysis after an accident, yes, we drank, but what things enabled that choice, and what can we do in the future to better protect ourselves.