Toward the Prevention of Alcohol Problems Government, Business, and Community Action (1984) / Chapter Skim
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PREVENTION AND THE COMMUNITY
PREVENTION AND THE COMMUNITY
Pages 11-23
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From page 11... ...
Alcohol problems occur throughout the drinking population; they occur at lower rates but among much greater numbers as one moves from the heaviest drinkers to more moderate drinkers." Since many health and social problems related to the use of alcohol clearly 11
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From page 12... ...
is mandated to support a broad base of informative studies that can be used in the search for effective measures to prevent alcohol-related problems. That is why we asked the National Academy of Sciences to convene this remarkably diverse collection of people -- including state, national, and local policy makers and lawmakers, researchers, professional people, treatment providers, civic leaders, and economic leaders -- to try to examine together from each special point of view (and no field has more special points of view than that of alcohol abuse and alcoholism)
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From page 13... ...
Alcohol abuse and alcoholism are now being recognized here and throughout the world as major public health problems, and prevention has a high priority in this administration. Examples include the Presidential Commission on Drunk Driving, the Department of Health and Human Services' Secretarial Initiative on teenage alcohol abuse, and the enormous relative increases in the 1983 and 1984 federal research budget for alcohol abuse and alcoholism, which far outstripped increases for research in other health areas.
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From page 14... ...
This requires an unusual willingness to set priorities, share responsibilities, and believe in causes beyond a single individual, agency, or organizational turf. Fourth, prevention policy has an impact on personal value systems.
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From page 15... ...
One of our most successful prevention efforts in Illinois used block grant money to establish two prevention resource centers, which were repositories of information, materials, and people who were highly skilled in how to set up local prevention programs. The centers were available free of charge to community groups to help them develop their own prevention programs.
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From page 16... ...
The other morning, for instance, I stopped at the Seven-Eleven for a pack of smokes, and some of the local big shots were lined up outside the state liquor store waiting to be first in line for the 10 o'clock opening. And a little thing I found out when I worked for a while as a bellhop is that they're always brushing their teeth.
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From page 17... ...
But like our folks tell us, "Thank God it's only beer and not dope." It is lunch time at the best restaurant in town. J.P., chief loan officer at the bank and currently serving as public affairs chairman of the local chamber of commerce, has just been seated with his friend, Henry Bryant, assistant principal at the local high school.
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From page 18... ...
I've sent off to some of these national organizations, and now I have all of this printed material plus a couple of videotapes about drinking and the problems of alcohol, and the various ways a community can line up behind its schools and churches to bring this problem under control. And that's where you come in, Henry.
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From page 19... ...
The problem of people getting drunk somewhat too often, perhaps in the wrong place or at the wrong time, exists alongside the problem of people getting drunk repetitively over a long enough period of time that they begin failing systematically across a broad range of their activities. Just as when we look over time at the welfare population, the criminaloffending population, or panel surveys of drug abusers, we find that a small fraction of people stay in the worst condition, at the most deviant and extreme end, for a long time, and a great many people move back and forth at the nearer end.
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From page 20... ...
MARK KELLER, Rutgers University I want to raise a broad question about the effectiveness of generalized policy options, such as taxes on alcohol and restrictions on advertising for alcoholic beverages. I am skeptical that increased taxation or substantially raising the price of alcohol can really affect the volume of alcohol consumption.
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From page 21... ...
MARK MOORE, Harvard University Dr. Keller, I would quickly agree that we cannot specify how the major factors determine the level of alcohol consumption, nor are we clear about the relationship between any given level of consumption and a set of bad consequences associated with drinking.
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From page 22... ...
It is just that we see no particular reason to restrict efforts to an instrument called education, which typically means special classes in elementary schools.
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From page 23... ...
But let me give you one more example. Another major social innovation was the reduction in traffic fatalities that occurred after the 55 mph speed limit became law.
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