I love a drink, but even I can see that the sort of scenes you see at weekends in some city centres in the UK, and at some events like big race meetings, are problematic.
Even in my hard-drinking youth, I was never so pissed I passed out or puked up in the street, or it being a general thing in town centres at weekends. And I don't recall any of my friends doing that, save perhaps for just once, before they knew their limit. I can't recall ever seeing massive drunken brawls outside pubs and clubs, either.
Of course, there'd be the occasional person who staggered home, possibly singing, after overdoing it, and once in a while a friend would fall asleep on the train home after drinking at a work do and end up in Brighton or Hastings instead of Croydon, but that was pretty exceptional. And they got the piss taken out of them mercilessly for it for ages afterwards.
I live in a small town with loads of pubs, but drink-related problems are rare (luckily, because we have at most 2 police officers on duty, even at weekends). But I won't go into the city on a Friday or Saturday evening, because it's full of pissed-up idiots.
Yes, it's a bit of a worry, but imo it's mostly a small section of the population that are involved in alcohol-related bad behaviour.