If one hasn't experienced addiction, they'd have trouble understanding. And if they ever do reach that point with something like alcohol, it could be going on for years, they wouldn't even know what hit them, still struggling to understand it.
It's possible someone pushing is struggling with it. They want others to be on the same level as them. Makes it "easier" to "accept" in that moment. And it's difficult to reason with someone who might be going through that. They can't control it in the exact same way you can. The brain is sending all the same signals. Both mindsets are doing 100% the "right" thing.
Alcohol is an odd one. Has no life of its own until it enters a body and takes over. You become the host in a sense. Like an ant encountering ophiocordyceps unilateralis.
This artwork of mine a few others tells a similar story. Something latching on, causing interference, then taking control of both body and the mind.