Alcoholism Societal Impact

Today, alcohol abuse and alcohol dependence are major public health problems in North America, costing the region's inhabitants, by some estimates, as much as US$170 billion annually. Alcohol abuse and alcohol dependence sometimes cause death, particularly through liver, pancreatic, or kidney disease, internal bleeding, brain deterioration, alcohol poisoning, and suicide. Heavy alcohol consumption by a pregnant mother can also lead to fetal alcohol syndrome, an incurable and damaging condition.

Additionally, alcohol abuse and alcohol dependence are major contributing factors for head injuries, motor vehicle accidents (MVA), violence and assaults, neurological, and other medical problems (cirrhosis, etc.).

Of the one half of the North American population who consume alcohol, it has been estimated by some that 10% are alcohol abusers and alcohol dependents, and 6% consume more than half of all alcohol.

Stereotypes of alcohol abusers and alcohol dependents are often found in fiction and popular culture: for example the "town drunk," or the stereotype of Russians and the Irish as alcoholics. In modern times, the recovery movement has led to more realistic portraits of abusers and dependents and their problems, such as in Charles R. Jackson's The Lost Weekend, or the films Days of Wine and Roses, and My Name is Bill W or the extreme Leaving Las Vegas. Charles Bukowski describes honestly his alcohol addiction in the movie Barfly and in his other writings.