I said 3 a day is unhealthy. I’ve been there in my early 20s. It’s not good. You will get fat. It’s definitely risky that it will continue to escalate. And yet I knocked it off before anyone would ever label me as an alcoholic, before I’d think I had any business going to a meeting. And honestly, coffee has proven much harder to kick than my minor drinking “problem.” Scare quotes because it was a problem, but it barely registers on the scale of what most people consider a drinking problem.

These are usually reported as averages, not floors. I’m interpreting it as “21 drinks per week.” “At least 3 drinks every single day” is a much more serious problem IMO.

7 drinks a day is a fifth of vodka every other day. That’s at the point where you’re likely driving drunk regularly, and need to spike your morning coffee to stop the shakes.

I’d be less annoyed if they just said “3 or more drinks a day.” Putting the 7 there is designed to frame the problem as more severe. Imagine if the range said “3-17 drinks per day” instead. Then it would be too obvious what they were doing.