I've never drank any alcohol, and am almost 22 presently. Certainly, there is a large chunk of society which is built around bars and night clubs, and if there is one drawback to my refusal to drink, it is the solitude which results from ruling out that kind of lifestyle. In any case, I looked at the potential for good that alcohol consumption could offer, and looked at the potential for negatives, and I saw no reason to even begin. Drinking is in the simplest sense the consumption of poison.
As for being affected by other people's drinking, I never have been. As someone who never drinks, I have never found myself in the company of drunken people. Additionally, nobody in my household ever drank.
I find it ironic that our society condemns the victims of alcoholism and mocks those who abstain from alcohol, culturally implying that the most prudent and appropriate social position in regard to the matter is to discover and maintain an elusive balance by learning to consume an addictive and destructive material in moderation.
Drink has ruined many people's lives, and the origin of that ruin is often rooted in the social pressure placed on the individual initially to engage in the consumption of alcohol. Essentially, the addicted alcoholic began life without any thirst for the drink whatsoever, but became its slave because of a degenerate culture which preached that social acceptance should be sought at the expense of the rational mind.