Our use of and attachments with alcohol provide most complex relationships With the exception of those addicted to nicotine and caffeine, more people are addicted to alcohol than any other substance As many as 90% of adults in the United States have had some experience with alcohol, and 60% of men and 30% of women have had one or more alcohol-related adverse life events While not all drinking is problem drinking, there is an unfortunate group of persons (about 7% of the population) for whom the use of and attachment to alcohol is part of a tragic story We are unable to determine those for whom drinking will be a problem and those for whom it will not, but through a progressive pattern it can reek a pattern of destruction to parts or all of life-to the organism, to intimate relations, to the family, to the community, and to one's vocation Estimates of persons, in the United States alone, at some stage of alcoholism exceed ten million