More than 100,000 people die each year from alcohol related causes. Ranked independently, alcohol related deaths would fall between the 3rd and 4th leading causes of death.

 Alcohol misuse is involved in about:

•  30% of suicides

•  50% of homicides

•  68% manslaughter's

•  52% of rapes and other sexual assaults

•  48% of robberies

•  62% of assaults, and 490/0 of all other violent crimes

•  Approximately 30% of accidental deaths

 Between 20% and 40% of all persons admitted to urban general hospitals have coexisting alcohol problems and are often misdiagnosed alcoholics being treated for the consequences of their drinking.

Liver cirrhosis is the 9th leading cause of deaths; each year 28,000 lives are lost to this disease. People with alcohol problems are also prone to other health problems, including neurological disorders, cardiovascular damage, pancreatic disease, and liver diseases other than cirrhosis. '

Alcohol abuse and alcoholism account for more economic and social damage than any other public health problem. Economic costs to society are estimated at $150 million annually. More than 2/3 of the costs are the result of lost productivity. Most of the remainder of the costs are for treating alcohol disorders and the medical consequences of alcohol consumption (including property and administrative costs of automobile crashes and the additional costs of alcohol related crime) .