Chemical Dependency: Alcoholism
Center for Continuing Dental Education
Chemical Dependency: Alcoholism
Center for Continuing Dental Education
Prevention measures aim to reduce alcohol abuse and its consequences. Such measures include policies regulating alcohol-related behavior on the one hand and community and educational interventions seeking to influence drinking behavior on the other. Researchers use scientific methods, such as randomized controlled trials, time-series analysis, and computer simulation, to determine the effectiveness of prevention initiatives. The resulting data may both inform policy and guide community and educational prevention efforts.
Following are just a small sample of policy and educational interventions that have been tried in communities throughout the US with varying degrees of success.
Alcohol Taxes
Studies demonstrate that increased beer prices lead to reductions in the levels and frequency of drinking and heavy drinking among youth. Higher taxes on beer are associated with lower traffic crash fatality rates, especially among young drivers, and with reduced incidence of some types of crime.
Raising the Minimum Legal Drinking Age (MLDA)
MLDA legislation is intended to reduce alcohol use among those under 21, to prevent traffic deaths, and to avoid other negative outcomes. Raising the MLDA has been accompanied by reduced alcohol consumption, traffic crashes, and related fatalities among those under 21. A nationwide study found a significant decline in single-vehicle nighttime (SVN) fatal crashes--those most likely to involve alcohol--among drivers under 21 following increases in the MLDA.
Zero-Tolerance Laws
The National Highway Systems Act provides incentives for all States to adopt "zero-tolerance laws" that set maximum blood alcohol concentration (BAC) limits for drivers under 21 to 0.02 percent or lower. An analysis of the effect of zero-tolerance laws in the first 12 States enacting them found a 20-percent relative reduction in the proportion of SVN fatal crashes among drivers under 21, compared with nearby States that did not pass zero-tolerance laws
Blood Alcohol Concentration Laws
Numerous states have lowered BAC limits from 0.10 to 0.08 percent to reduce alcohol-related fatal motor vehicle crashes. One study found that states with the reduced limit experienced a 16-percent decline in the proportion of fatal crashes involving fatally injured drivers whose BAC's were 0.08 percent or higher, compared with nearby states that did not reduce their BAC limit.
