Failures in prevention: Why we can't prevent the devastating effect of alcoholism and drug abuse.

A review of alcoholism prevention efforts on the federal state and local levels reveals that although drunk driving and fetal alcohol syndrome are now recognized as major public health problems and have begun to be serious targets for prevention debilitating disagreement interferes with efforts to prevent drunk driving.

Abstract

A review of alcoholism prevention efforts on the federal state and local levels reveals the following: a) Prevention has ranked lowest among all alcoholism and drug dependence funding priorities established by the US government; b) prevention is an infrequent component of employee assistance programs in industry despite its proven favorable cost-benefit ratio; c) prevention activities directed to groups at risk for alcoholism -- among them women youth minority groups and the elderly -- have increased in number but failed to yield reductions in drinking rates by target groups; d) although drunk driving and fetal alcohol syndrome are now recognized as major public health problems and have begun to be serious targets for prevention debilitating disagreement interferes with efforts to prevent drunk driving and the incidence of fetal alcohol syndrome remains unconscionably high. (authors)