I spent a year of my life drinking 8-10 imperial pints a day, which is way over this 10 standard drinks thing. Part of that was accomplished simply by drinking

I spent a year of my life drinking 8-10 imperial pints a day, which is way over this 10 standard drinks thing. Part of that was accomplished simply by drinking for 6+ hours a day (usually 8pm to 2am) After a year of that I stepped back to one or two a day. It was never an addiction thing for me, more just a social environment and expense account that encouraged drinking (which in retrospect included several hard core alcoholics) I've watched people close to me really struggle with addiction and do a lot of harm to people around them with smaller amounts of alcohol. It's not necessarily an issue of quantity, I believe that why you drink may well be the determining factor