Drug and Alcohol Abuse Prevention: 1 (Drug and Alcohol Abuse Reviews) - Hardcover

A major national goal is to improve our health and advance our opportunities to pursue happiness. Simulta­ neously, there are increasing health care costs and increasing demands to accomplish more with less financial support. Treatment costs can be reduced and health improved by preventing the toxic effects of drugs. This first volume of our new series, Drug and Alcohol to reduce the use and Abuse Reviews, focuses on stategies abuse of common compounds known to cause major damage to health: alcohol, tobacco, and illicit drugs such as cocaine and heroin. With the number of deaths attributable to the consumption of alcohol in the US at about 100,000 per year, the annual cost of addictions will be $150 billion by 1995. A variety of approaches to preventing drug abuse are being applied by governmental agencies and health care providers to reduce costs. These include school-based inter­ ventions, driver education programs, media interventions, health warning labels, physician guidance, economic dis­ incentives, restricted availability, punishments and penalties, environmental protections, and social-support approaches. With such a range of options, it becomes critical to evaluate and choose the most effective systems for a given population. We feel that the present collection of critical survey articles constitutes a thorough examination of the issues and strategies associated with prevention, and trust that readers will find the book exceedingly helpful in under­ standing and planning what needs to be done.

"Drug and Alcohol Abuse Prevention" focuses on a key problem of our national welfare: the reduction of use and abuse of substances known to endanger health, such as alcohol, illicit drugs, and tobacco. With the number of deaths related to the consumption of alcohol in the US at 100,000 per year, the cost of addictions is predicted to rise to a staggering $150 billion annually. Many strategies for preventing substance abuse are being applied by governmental agencies and healthcare providers to reduce addictions. This selection of concise reviews by leading experts - much of it gleaned from NIH-funded research - highlights specific methodologies and approaches targeted for selected populations, including: promotions and incentives in the workplace, the cost of drugs in the context of economic change, programs for cigarette, alcohol, and hard drug abuse prevention, drug prevention in minority groups, substance abuse problems among religious groups professing abstinence, family treatment of alcoholism, adolescent alcohol treatment, training teachers for substance abuse prevention, prevention of substance abuse in women, and programs for girls. Unique in scope and approach, this initial volume of "Drug & Alcohol Abuse Reviews" provides valuable new insight-to both professional and layperson alike-into this special set of problems confronting today's society.