Alcoholism has become a major social problem in industrialized countries throughout the world. Ironically, the more "developed" and technologically advanced a country becomes, the more helpless it seems to the societal and personal difficulties that are directly or indirectly related to alcoholics and their problem drinking. Simply put, the people of the world need to learn more about alcoholism if they are to avoid the unhealthy, deleterious, and the fatal outcomes of this disease.