alcohol is one of the most dangerous drugs and the drug most frequently abused in the United States;

approximately ten million, or 7 percent, of the adults in the United States are alcoholics or problem drinkers;

it is estimated that alcoholism and other alcohol related problems cost the United States over $43,000,000,000 annually in lost production, medical and public assistance expenditures, police and court costs, and motor vehicle and other accidents;

alcohol abuse is found with increasing frequency among persons who are multiple-drug abusers and among former heroin users who are being treated in methadone maintenance programs;