Verified answer

There is, unfortunately, no simple answer to this question. Many different confounds surrounding the effects of alcohol on human physiology make it impossible to accurately come up with a measure of central tendency (whether it is mean, median, or mode) that is applicable to the population, or even a good sized sample. Some of these confounds can include a genetic predispositon for high tolerance to the effects of alcohol vs. a genetic predisposition to low tolerance to the effects of alcohol. See, data has shown that high tolerence to the effects of alcohol correlates with higher rates of alcoholism, as measured by behavioral assays (observation of physiological withdrawal in the absence of alcohol). This is hypothosized to be a function of the theory that it requires a copious amount of alcohol to establish physical dependency. Thus those with a low tolerance to the effects of alcohol may not be capable of ingesting the amount of alcohol required to create that physical dependency (as they pass out from the effects, etc...), while those with a high predisposition to the effects of alcohol are quite capable of ingesting a significantly larger volume of alcohol. A similar genetic predisposition has also been shown to effect how subjects drink as a function of stress exposure, with those with that are alcohol aversive choosing to drink more when exposed to a stressor (when compared to non-stressful control conditions) vs. those that are alcohol preferring choosing to drink lesswhen exposed to a stressor (when compared to non-stressful control conditions).

There are a plethora of other confounds that can affect level of ingestion between subjects beyond this. Gender, esterous cycles (in females), body weight, circadian disruption (specifically in those that have work different shifts regularly), cultural influences, etc. Taking into account even this small sample of the confounds that are present in determining a valid "average amount of ingestion of alcohol" for alcoholics, I'm sure you now understand why this just isn't practical.

More than me!! Just kidding, there is an old doctors joke - one doctor says to another how do you know if someone is an alcoholic? the other replies they drink more than me!

I drink a lot and have often wondered whether I was an alcoholic or not, I think it is more to do with whether or not the drinking causes problems for example at home or at work.

When the drink stops you from being able to function normally in your life, I would say that is alcoholism. The amount of drink consumed is arbitrary as I don't believe there is such a thing as an 'average alcoholic'.

it all depends on the person some drink a 6 pack every morning just to fuction and continue throughout the day others just get plastered every night and somehow function the next morning

There is no way to tell.

One alcoholic may have one drink a day, another may have 20.

Alcoholism is about dependency, not quantity.

One is to many