Alcohol

Surgeon General's Call to Action to Prevent and Reduce Underage Drinking (exit DHS)

Six Goals of the Call to Action

• Foster changes in American society that facilitate healthy adolescent development and that help prevent and reduce underage drinking.
• Engage parents, schools, communities, all levels of government, all social systems that interface with youth, and youth themselves, in a coordinated national effort to prevent and reduce drinking and its consequences.
• Promote an understanding of underage alcohol consumption in the context of human development and maturation that takes into account individual adolescent characteristics as well as environmental, ethnic, cultural, and gender differences.
• Conduct additional research on adolescent alcohol use and its relationship to development.
• Work to improve public health surveillance on underage drinking and on population-based risk factors for this behavior.
• Work to ensure that policies at all levels are consistent with the national goal of preventing and reducing underage alcohol consumption.

Alcohol abuse is different from alcoholism

Alcohol abuse is a pattern of drinking that can be treated and cured. Alcoholism is a disease that can be treated, but there is no current cure. Treatment is available and works for both alcohol abuse and alcoholism.

Warning Signs of Alcohol Abuse:

If you answer "yes" to any of the following questions you may have a problem with alcohol.

• Do you drink alone when you feel angry or sad?
• Does your drinking ever make you late for work?
• Does your drinking worry your family?
• Do you ever forget what you did while drinking?
• Do you get headaches or have a hangover after drinking?

When alcohol abuse has developed into an addiction:

According to The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism the following four additional symptoms indicate that an alcohol abuse problem has developed into an addiction to alcohol:

• Craving – A strong need, or urge, to drink
• Loss of control – Not being able to stop drinking once drinking has begun
• Physical dependence – Withdrawal symptoms, such as nausea, sweating, shakiness, and anxiety after stopping drinking
• Tolerance – The need to drink greater amounts of alcohol to get "high."

Additional Resources:

• Alcohol Policy MD
• Center to Alcohol Marketing and Youth
• FACE
• Institute of Medicine: Reducing Underage Drinking, a Collective Responsibility
• Institute for Public Strategies
• Leadership to Keep Children Alcohol Free
• Alcohol Justice (formerly Marin Institute)
• National Alcohol Policy Information System is the leading authority on alcohol issues.
• National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (exit DHS)
  NIAAA home page. Publications, research, information and other resources.
• PIRE Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation
• Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
• Screening, Brief Intervention, Referral and Treatment (exit DHS)
  S-BIRT information.
• Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and NCADI  information (exit DHS)
• Surgeon General Call to Action on Underage Drinking
• Wisconsin Clearinghouse on Prevention Resources
  

Last Revised: February 07, 2012