Another reason people often drink in social settings is peer pressure. It’s culturally the norm for people in Western countries to drink when they’re out in groups or to enjoy beer and wine together during social visits. For people who want to fit in with a group of friends, an unspoken pressure applies that encourages them to drink when they otherwise wouldn’t. For young adults, a variety of binge-drinking cultures operate in various settings, especially college campuses, in which drinking dangerously large amounts of alcohol is almost a requirement for membership in peer groups.

Alcohol is the most commonly used substance in the United States, and as a result, it’s the most commonly abused as well. Nearly 70% of Americans drink, and up to 15 million adults have a substance abuse disorder. Very often, these problems begin with social drinking, in which alcohol is used in groups and to have a good time. This split, between the tragic consequences of alcohol abuse and the evident pleasure people get out of drinking, has led many people to ask, “Why do people like getting drunk?” The answers seem to be based in society and psychology as much as in chemistry and biology. To understand why people enjoy the sensation of being intoxicated, it helps to understand what alcohol is and how it affects human bodies.