Alcohol and Public Policy: No Ordinary Commodity

From a public health perspective, alcohol is a major contributor to mobidity and mortality. It has the capability to impact on many aspects of social life. This book describes recent advances in alcohol research which have direct relevance for the development of effective alcohol policies at the local, national and international levels. It covers the search for policies that protect health, prevent disability, and address the social problems associated with the misuse of alcohol. This book is, at its core, a scientific treatise on alcohol policy: what alcohol policy is, why it is needed, which interventions are effective, how policy is made, and how scientific evidence can inform the policy making process.
The book opens with introduction to the policy agenda and considers epidemiological issues, providing a snapshot of the scale and nature of the challenges faced. The coverage then moves on, in section three, to describe approaches to the prevention of new cases of alcohol-related problems, early intervention with new cases, and the treatment and rehabilitation of advanced cases. Section four considers the international and national policy environment as it affects the policymaking process, and section five provides a synthesis of what is known about evidence-based interventions for translation into policy.
This book should be read by health policy specialists and researchers, service planners and providers, epidemiologists, social workers and clinicians with an interest in addiction and other alcohol-related problems.

Thomas Babor is in the Department of Community Medicine and Health Care, University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington.