Look: I don’t want to make light of binge drinking, at all. I recognize that alcohol can be just as dangerous as plenty of illegal drugs, and is responsible for all sorts of heartache, injury, illness, death, pain, everything. And, truth be told, I don’t drink all that much or all that often.

But I couldn’t help but feel some sympathy for the fellow whose picture accompanied the print edition of the Daily News’ feature on New York’s “BOOZE EPIDEMIC!” today.

The caption says, “Pitiful sight of empty bottles and a drunken man illustrates the depth of the growing drinking problem revealed in a new city Health Department survey.”

And the guy looks like this:

I mean, let he who has not passed out in the corner of someone’s apartment among a pile of empty bottles cast the first stone.

Even when I do drink I’m not really a wine guy, and I’m not certain wine is typically associated with binge drinking, but if this guy’s into drinking five full bottles of wine and two bottles of beer before knocking off in the corner, I’m in no position to judge.

Who knows what happened to him earlier that day? Perhaps he got dumped by his significant other, lost his job, or watched the Giants lose to the Cowboys on Sunday.

Or maybe, he was working in his job at a stock-photo provider, and someone was like, “Hey Frank, you wanna pose for a picture of a passed-out drunk guy?” And Frank agreed that would be pretty hilarious, so he pretended to sleep in the corner while the photographers set up a bunch of empty wine bottles around him, taking care to make sure none of the labels faced the camera.

Anyway, if by any slim chance anyone knows this guy, please let me know. He’s ripe for an interview. Perhaps we can coach him through his problems.