The text of the statute refers to someone who is “an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance,” so alcohol wouldn’t count. You’re asked on the form to attest that you are not either a current user or addict, so I don’t think past use applies either. You just can’t both own a gun and do illegal drugs simultaneously, which I guess they think they can prove Hunter did. It’s one of those stupid laws that can be enacted selectively to add charges and put people in prison for longer.

Making it harder to change the constitution is an inherently conservative position. That’s basically what conservative means – it’s a desire to keep things mostly how they are (or how they used to be, in the supposed “good old days”).