« Facts About Alcoholism

Alcohol is the third leading cause of preventable mortality in the US, behind tobacco and diet/activity patterns. It contributes to 100,000 deaths annually.
J McGinnis & W Foege, "Actual Causes of Death in the United States," Journal of the American Medical Association {JAMA}, Vol. 270, No. 18, 11/10/93, p. 2208

37% of 9,484 deaths attributed to non-medical use of other drugs in 1996, also involved alcohol.
SAMHSA, Annual Medical Examiner Data 1996

Alcohol is the most widely used psychoactive drug in the United States - it has unique pharmacological effects on the person drinking it.
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration

Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS), which can occur when women drink during pregnancy, is the leading known environmental cause of mental retardation in the Western World.
NIAAA, Eighth Special Report, op. cit. p. 221

Over seven percent of the US population ages 18 years and older (about 13.8 million people) have issues with alcohol. 8.1 million Americans are considered to be alcoholics.
NIAAA, Alcohol Health & Research World

Yearly, over 197,000 (15%) of robberies, 661,000 (27%) aggravated assaults, and nearly 1.7 million (25%) simple assaults involved alchohol use, according to victims reports. Also, 183,000 (37%) rapes and sexual assaults involve alcohol use by the offender.
US Department of Justice, Alcohol and Crime: An Analysis of National Data on the Prevalence of Alcohol Involvement in Crime, 4/98

Almost 76 million Americans (about 43% of adults) have had exposure to alcoholism. This includes those who grew up with or married an alcoholic or a problem drinker or had a blood relative who was ever an alcoholic or problem drinker.
National Center For Health Statistics {NCHS}, Advance Data, USDHHS, No. 205, 9/30/91, p. 1

Despite alcohol being prohibited to those under 21, 62% of high school seniors claim to have been drunk - half of these individuals claim to have had five or more drinks in a row during the previous 2 weeks.
LD Johnston, et.al., Monitoring the Future Study, Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, 12/99

Those who begin at age 21 are four times less likely to develop alcoholism than those who begin drinking at 15.
NIAAA news release, 1/14/98

Nearly 25% of all persons admitted to general hospitals are (undiagnosed and diagnosed) alcoholics being treated for the consequences of their drinking.
NIAAA, Eighth Special Report, op. cit., p. xi

General health care costs for untreated alcoholics are at least 100% higher than those for nonalcoholics. This disparity may exist as long as 10 years before entry into treatment.
NIAAA, Eighth Special Report, op. cit., p. 259