According to the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (the “NIAAA”) and the Journal of the American Medical Association(“JAMA”), approximately 35 million people each year suffer from Alcohol Use Disorder (“AUD”) in the United States alone (based upon the 2012 data provided in Grant et. al. the JAMA 2015 as adjusted to reflect a compound annual growth rate of 1.13%, which is the growth rate reported by U.S. Census Bureau for the general adult population from 2012-2017). This results in significant health, social and financial costs: Excessive alcohol use is the fourth leading cause of preventable death and is responsible for 31% of driving fatalities in the United States. The Centers for Disease Control has reported that alcohol use disorder costs the U.S. economy about $250 billion annually, with heavy drinking accounting for greater than 75% of the social and health related costs. Despite this,
Grant estimates, in the 2015 JAMA publication, that only 7.7% of patients with AUD have been treated.
