Assuming this site has decent numbers, in the US around 5% of people >26 years old have an "alcohol use disorder". Presumably the majority of those are addition disorders. But that means that after 12 years 95% of them will still be fine.

https://americanaddictioncenters.org/rehab-guide/addiction-s...

Presumably an alcohol use disorder is quite bad. Is the benefit of drinking alcohol really enough to offset the fairly significant risk there?

So tens of millions of people?

Sounds like a public health crisis

Most non-abstinents are not alcoholics and that holds true even in countries with high rates of alcoholism.

Also "most people start with 4 drinks per week" is made up. Regardless of where you put "start".