Alcohol in America Taking Action to Prevent Abuse (1985) / Chapter Skim
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9. Summary and Outlook
9. Summary and Outlook
Pages 104-112
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From page 104... ...
William Mayer, former head of the Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Mental Health Administration A s WILLIAM MAYER OBSERVES, reducing the number of alcohol-relatect problems in America is a substantial ~ ~ challenge. in part, this is because of the prominent and deep-rooted role of drinking in American society (Chapter I)
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From page 105... ...
Furthermore, there are many more moderate drinkers than heavy drinkers and many more heavy drinkers than alcoholics. As a result, at least half of the alcohol-related problems that occur in the United States cannot be reached by treatment programs for alcoholics and other very heavy drinkers.
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From page 106... ...
Simultaneously, more outlets selling alcohol have opened, these outlets have kept longer hours, and reduced drinking ages have made alcohol available to more people. During this same period, per capita alcohol consumption has gone up in the United States, increasing by over 30 percent since 1950.
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From page 107... ...
However, current ciramshop laws have proven relatively ineffective. The term "obviously intoxicated" offers little guidance to servers or to members of a jury, and many servers have chosen simply to insure against dramshop liability rather than to take active measures to avoid it.
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From page 108... ...
. Because traffic fatalities account for about half of all the people killed in accidents, passive restraints in automobiles, including air bags and automatic seat belts, are the technological devices with the greatest potential to reduce alcohol-related accidental deaths.
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From page 109... ...
to set up their own prevention programs. O In the many corporations and other private companies that have found Dreventive Programs to be cheaper than their share of the health care costs generated by alcohol abuse.
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From page 110... ...
"Ultimately, action initiated within the community is the action most likely to seize the community agenda and provide the opportunity for successful community cooperation to reduce alcohol problems," says Robert Reynolds of San Diego County's Department of Health Services. "All too seldom are those interested in prevention policies able to capture the public's attention; we in the alcohol field must learn to respond with sensitivity, support, and creativity to the opportunities providect by others." An important component of preventive measures instituted at the community level should be the sharing of information among groups and indivicluals pursuing similar aims.
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From page 111... ...
which we can choose programs that have proven to be successful in a cost-effective way would be extremely useful to policymakers, in the legislatures and state bureaucracies, and in county governments." As more and more people learn about what prevention can do, its successes are likely to multiply. As Reynolds says, "Success tends to have a catalytic effect." When communities learn that they can deal with alcohol problems at a public beach or park, at a sports stadium, or at a neighborhood corner, they are more willing to take on additional or larger problems.
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From page 112... ...
. This new social movement may well lead to major redefinitions of the role of alcohol in our society in the years ahead."
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