I don’t think anyone would ever dispute the mental health benefits, though many people also lose their minds when drinking to excess. The purpose of these studies is to provide guidance to healthcare providers, so they can better assess the risk of their patients drinking habits.
The two drink a day meme is something I knew was totally bullshit, but could never really prove. Two of my uncles (one died recently) believed that meme and happily torched both their mental and physical health by drinking to excess. Their healthcare providers didn’t say anything either, until it was much too late, at which point the damage had become very obvious.
I dispute the "mental health benefits". Alcohol progressively disables parts of the brain. It literally the opposite of a mental health benefit. In fact, it will make problems like depression significantly worse.
I believe that the idea that people are to blame for their alcohol problems is totally false and basically a conspiracy by the alcohol advertising industry. The problem is alcohol, not the people consuming it. It naturally induces almost every person to want to drink more alcohol while inhibiting their ability to make good decisions such as about continuing to drink.
This is true for all problems people face. Ultimately, the genetic lottery predetermines a wide berth of our experience. Our environment determines the rest. If society wants to change behavior it finds deviant or unhealthy, its main tools are science-based interventions and leveraging its ability to manipulate the context within which people live.
The perennial issue is finding and designing the right levers to get the results that are wanted. Prohibition didn't work, moralistic pressure doesn't work, education doesn't work. The right incentives need to be discovered, and I think an acceptance that humans have a need for changing their state of mind will lead closer to answers.
The two drink a day meme is something I knew was totally bullshit, but could never really prove. Two of my uncles (one died recently) believed that meme and happily torched both their mental and physical health by drinking to excess. Their healthcare providers didn’t say anything either, until it was much too late, at which point the damage had become very obvious.