Part I. Alcoholism Around the World

INTRODUCTION TO PART I

Archer Tongue International Council on Alcohol and Addictions

Lausanne 1001, Switzerland

The National Council on Alcoholism is to be congratulated once again for arranging an international scientific conference during the National Forum on Alcoholism. The fact that, this time. all continents are represented highlights the recognition of alcoholism as no longer merely a national problem but as an international health question that knows no frontiers.

Despite the worldwide explosion of drug use during the last several years, alcohol consumption and alcoholism have not declined appreciably in any country. In fact, the use o f alcoholic beverages seems to have extended into all sections of the population of most countries. Among youth, for example, alcohol has apparently not been displaced by newer drugs in vogue, and recent evidence from several countries, such as West Germany, Switzerland, England, the United States, and Sweden, indicates increasing alcohol consumption among youth, supported by the fact that physicians treating alcoholism are dealing with patients of a much younger age than formerly. Indeed, one can hardly now class alcoholism as a disease of the middle- aged.

Moreover, the old taboos concerning the sexes and drinking no longer apply. For example, women now represent one-fifth of Australia's heavy drinkers, and the proportion is said to be rising. This situation is by no means confined to Australia, and countries where formerly there was strong social disapproval of women drinking have exhibited a changed pattern in this regard.

Furthermore, we are presently witnessing the spread of beverage alcohol use and consequent alcoholism to cultures that have strong sanctions against alcohol, as, for example, the Muslim and Buddhist countries. This year, the lnternational Council on Alcohol and Addictions (ICAA), a t the request of national authorities, held a n international conference attended by 800 participants, in Bangkok, Thailand, and later this year will hold its first inter-Arab conference in Bahrain. In Sri Lanka, a national committee on alcoholism is in formation; in Burma, Buddhist monks participate in alcoholism treatment. It is evident that the social use of alcohol has penetrated in the last few years into many areas hitherto practically immune from its use.

These factors, plus the increasing mobility of all of our citizens, make it imperative that knowledge about the drinking patterns, attitudes to alcohol use, and possibilities and modalities of treatment in the different countries should be known internationally. Such an exchange of experience and information as this Conference provides is of great benefit, and the present panel of international speakers here gathered, together with the contribution of the numerous research scientists present, will certainly make a valuable contribution in this regard.

The ICAA is indeed pleased to be associated with the National Council on Alcoholism in the holding of this Conference and wishes it every success.

4