Well that’s true, it does have some health benefits. Of course most of them are irrelevant now. So the next question is, going forward, does alcohol help or hurt our society?
Beer and wine were dinner table beverages in a lot of families even for the kids where I grew up and there are very few people to this day who, IMHO, abuse consumption of those two to the detriment of anyone but themselves.
Liquor? I've seen more women and children nearly beaten to death by the "man" of the house who was drunk and pissed off at them than I've seen men beaten badly for all reasons combined. If the "man" of the house had tried the same thing at a bar or club he'd have been throttled and under arrest in short order.
For full disclosure, I like some brands of Scotch and fifth lasts me around a year, maybe ten months on average. I don't know how you make it illegal but I don't know how you can say it's anything other than that on balance it's a curse, one I wouldn't miss if it all vanished overnight.