Here's what surprised me when I finally looked into it: the research on alcohol reads a lot like an ingredient label. Not "one glass of wine will ruin you," not "red wine is basically medicine," but something more honest in the middle. Less is generally better, the benefits were oversold for decades, and how much better you feel with less is something you can only find out by trying it.
Here's where I actually am with it. A while back I set myself a Thanksgiving goal: one full year without alcohol. I made it to spring. Since then it's been a drink maybe once a month, and the gaps keep stretching longer on their own. I still want that full year, honestly more as a challenge than anything, because I like proving to myself I can. That challenge wiring is my best tool and my worst enemy, which is its own thing I'm working on. All-or-nothing thinking got me through a Whole30, and it's also the exact thing that makes people quit trying the first time they slip.
And if you want my honest take: I genuinely think alcohol is a poison, and there's no real medical argument for it. But there's no medical argument for Coke Zero either, and I still drink those. That's the messy middle. You can know the truth about something and still make room for it occasionally, on purpose, without lying to yourself about what it is.