kava?

GHB is “technically” safer than alcohol at target doses, but dosing range is narrower than alcohol and negative effects of overconsumption are more severe. So safer in theory, but generally more dangerous in practice.

There’s something to be advocated for recreational drug users to replace the usual “maximum effect dose” of drugs they do occasionally (MDMA, cocaine, etc) with the equivalent of “two beers worth” of their drug of choice. But generally recreational drugs destabilize brain chemistry for 2-8 weeks regardless of dose - less is better of course, but people also shouldn’t think its okay to use it more frequently just because they’re doing a smaller dose - the side effects will be less but recovery will generally still take about as long.

I often tell my friends that less is more. Some have started to come to understand that to be true for them.

Can facilitate deeper interpersonal connection and sometimes intrapersonal insight.

There do seem to be a lot of downsides though.

In my opinion, aside from in vino, veritas, there aren’t any.

The most common answer you’ll get is ‘social lubricant’, which I’ll admit is somewhat true in groups of strangers or acquaintances.

However, most people can use alcohol responsibly and enjoy themselves without harming others (or themselves). Most of the things we do or put in our bodies have risks associated.

It’s fun!

Alcohol makes a good solvent so it extracts flavours in things that don't tend to go in a liquid. That's for liquors at least, for things like beer and wine, they're tasty drinks that also happen to have alcohol in them through the process of creating them.

Also it's fun having a drink or two!

Tastes good (to many)