People have problems that inhibit them from engaging fully in tons of domains. Some people have binge eating disorders that are literally taking years off of their lives; should food not be a conference staple either?

There's always going to be another group of people who think that the setup is unfair. If the only group of people who feels left out is the set of academic alcoholics so early in recovery that being in a setting with alcohol is unbearable then honestly it seems fine to me.