Addiction Treatment

A large number of people get into serious trouble because of their drinking. Currently, nearly 17.6 million adult Americans abuse alcohol or are alcoholic. Every day, more than 700,000 people in the U.S. receive treatment for alcoholism. Several million more adults engage in risky drinking that could lead to alcohol problems. In addition, about 53 percent of men and women in the United States report that one or more of their close relatives have a drinking problem.

Various researches indicate that 53% of the men and women in the US report that one or more of their close relatives are affected by alcoholism. 15% of the population in US constitutes problem drinkers, which means that 14 million persons are affected by alcoholism in US alone. 40 percent of women abstain from drinking while only 23 percent of men abstain. A larger percentage of men who drink are considered heavy drinkers than women. Heavy drinking for both men and women peaked between ages 29 to 45. Heavy drinking can increase the risk for certain cancers, especially those of the liver, esophagus, throat, and larynx (voice box). It can also cause liver cirrhosis, immune system problems, brain damage and harm to a fetus during pregnancy. Heavy drinking in England and Wales is estimated to cost the tax payer around £18bn a year.

Children of alcoholics/addicts are 2-4 times more likely to repeat the addiction in their own lives. 40% of children who start drinking before the age of 15 will become alcoholics at some point in their lives, compared with 25% for those who begin drinking at age 17, and about 10% for those who begin drinking at ages 21 and 22.

In purely economic terms, alcohol-related problems cost society approximately $185 billion per year. In human terms, the costs cannot be calculated. A cost analysis concluded that the average cost of treating one person was £175 – but that treatment saved nearly £900 in reduced health and social care, including the impact on police and the criminal justice system. Alcohol is estimated to be involved in 40% of road deaths and at least 30% of all road accidents each year in Ireland. In Britain 11 people are killed each week in road traffic accidents due to drinking and 33.000 people die each year from alcohol related causes. Alcohol is the third most detrimental risk factor for European ill health and premature death, after only tobacco and high blood pressure.