I'm here to put all of you in your place on this issue.
First off, alcohol is absolutely a drug. It effects the opiate receptors in your brain, just like heroin and Oxys and other opiates. Second, alcohol addiction is not rare, in fact it is very common. People who say it isn't are just ignorant of the facts.
For the people that need scientific proof on the subject, I'll tell you about a little thing called THIQ:
THIQ is a chemical that is created in your brain when you do heroin. It is a highly addictive chemical, and once it is in you, it never goes away. A doctor was doing studies on the brains of dead homeless people, and discovered that they all had THIQ in them. She was wondering how all these homeless drunks could afford heroin, but it turns out that in a percentage of the population, the process in which the body metabolizes alcohol is a little different.
In normal people, alcohol is turned to acetaldehyde. This is then broken down into carbon and water, which is expelled through sweat and urine.
In the alcoholic, however, there is another step. Part of the acetaldehyde is kept behind, and is made into THIQ.
Also, props to Zypher for knowing that alcohol withdrawals are deadly. Actually, the only chemical withdrawals that you can die from are alchohol and benzos. These both can lead to severe seizures.
I'm a firm believer that were alcohol invented today, it would be illegal.