Alcohol: a highly toxic poison; a chemical so potent it is used in antifreeze and glue. Worldwide, it has killed 20 times more teenagers in the last 10 years than heroin or ecstasy and annually is responsible for almost 2 million deaths. Statistically, it should be classified right up there with heroin and cocaine.

But alcohol is a constant in world history, a staple of most of the world's diet, a global currency transcending barriers of language, nationality, and culture. It arouses wit, wisdom, compassion, comradeship, love. Medical experts agree: it is good for you. And an invitation to sit and have a drink is a symbol of friendship understood the world over.

So what is this drug that has the capacity to give some people great enjoyment and leave others in abject misery, one man's best friend and another's worst enemy? This is Alcohol is a frank, unflinching look into the scourge and salvation that is the world's most popular drug.