| Abstract: | Alcohol consumption and many alcohol-related problems have increased in most industrialized countries in the postwar period. The main societal responses have been increases in the treatment response to alcohol problems and in public and school education efforts. In the present era of fiscal crisis, there is also a trend toward punitive controls of the individual drinker. Potential policy alternatives should be broadened to include environmental protections for and from drunkenness, and a reconsideration of alcohol control strategies. Recent studies have shown that in some circumstances such laws have strong effects.Revised from a paper presented at a Plenary Session on  Alcohol and Public Policy at the 28th International Institute on the Prevention and Treatment of Alcoholism, Munich, West Germany, July 9, 1982. Preparation of this article was supported by NIAAA National Alcohol Research Center grant (AA-05595) to the Alcohol Research Group, Institute of Epidemiology and Behavioral Medicine, Medical Research Institute of San Francisco, 1816 Scenic Ave., Berkeley, CA 94709. |
