"(Alcoholism) is a slow, insidious, difficult and progressive problem…I’m really happy that my family and my friends intervened because I was personally miserable during the time that I was drinking." 

-- Former Governor Ann Richards, recovering alcoholic, 2003

6 million women in the United States abuse or are dependent on alcohol.

Approximately one-third of all girls had their first alcoholic drink before entering high school.

Nearly half of high school girls drink alcohol and more than one in four binge drink.

Teenage girls who are heavy drinkers are five times more likely to have sex—a third less likely to use protections—than girls who don’t drink.

Frequent binge drinking in women’s colleges increased by 124 percent between 1993 and 2001.

Alcohol is involved in as many as 73 percent of all rapes and up to 70 percent of all incidents of domestic violence.

Women who drink get drunk faster, become addicted more easily, and develop alcohol-related diseases more readily than men who drink.

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Definitions of Alcohol Abuse and Dependence
 
Alcohol Abuse

A pattern of drinking that results in one or more of the following situations within a 12-month period:

· Failure to fulfill major work, school, or home responsibilities;

· Drinking in situations that are physically dangerous, such as while driving a car or operating machinery;

· Having recurring alcohol-related legal problems, such as being arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol or for physically hurting someone while drunk; and

· Continued drinking despite having ongoing relationship problems that are caused or worsened by the drinking.

Alcohol Dependence

Alcohol dependence (sometime referred to as alcoholism) is a disease that includes the following four symptoms:

· 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; and

· Tolerance -- The need to drink greater amounts of alcohol to get "high."

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Prenatal Exposure to Alcohol:  Long-Term Problems

Hyperactivity and attention deficits
Childhood depressive symptoms
Memory and information-processing difficulties
Poor problem-solving skills
Deficits in abstract thinking and flexibility
Significant weakness in arithmetic skills
Lower IQ scores
Problems with linguistic, perceptual, and motor development

Source: Richter, L., and Richter, D. M. (2001). Exposure to parental tobacco and alcohol use: Effects on children's health and development. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry 71(2):182-203.

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From DISCUS Code of Ethics (October 2003)

Beverage alcohol advertising and marketing materials should reflect generally accepted contemporary standards of good taste.

Beverage alcohol advertising and marketing materials should not degrade the image, form or status of women . . .

Beverage alcohol advertising and marketing materials should not contain any lewd or indecent images . . .

Beverage alcohol advertising and marketing materials should not rely upon sexual prowess or sexual success as a selling point for the brand.

Accordingly, advertising and marketing materials should not contain or depict:

· graphic or gratuitous nudity;

· promiscuity; or sexually lewd or indecent images or language.

· overt sexual activity;

Source: Distilled Spirits Council of the United States. (2003). Code of responsible practices for beverage alcohol advertising and marketing. www.discus.org (accessed February 4, 2004).

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Deciding Whether or Not to Drink

There is insufficient information to encourage patients who do not drink alcohol to start. 

The data on alcohol and cardiovascular disease are still correlative, whereas the toxic effects of alcohol are well established…

If alcohol were a newly discovered drug…we can be sure that no pharmaceutical company would develop it to prevent cardiovascular disease. 

Nor would many physicians use a therapy that might reduce the rate of myocardial infarction by 25 to 50 percent, but that would result in thousands of additional deaths per year due to cancer, motor vehicle accidents and liver disease.

Source: Goldberg, I. J. (2003). To drink or not to drink? [Editorial]. New England Journal of Medicine 348(2): 163.

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