Recent Developments in Alcoholism

From the President of the Research Society on Alcoholism Alcohol research has entered an era of growth which brings enhanced opti­ mism regarding the elucidation of the biochemical and psychosocial factors which combine to produce the phenomena of alcohol abuse and alcoholism. The solidification of knowledge regarding the genetic determinants of certain alcohol-related problems puts on firm footing the biological approaches for developing solutions to these problems. The current volume of Recent Devel­ opments in Alcoholism contains an excellent blend of information both on stud­ ies assessing the behavioral and physiological variables which may be ge­ netically linked to an individual''s risk of developing problems with alcohol, and on clinical and basic science investigations of the pathological conse­ quences of excessive ethanol ingestion. Further progress in the alcoholism research area will continue to require investigation of the interactions of en­ vironmental variables with the genetically determined biology of an individ­ ual. Novel techniques in the fields of molecular genetics, physical chemistry, and behavioral pharmacology are being brought to bear on the central issues in the field, and the addition of these tools to the science of alcohol research brings closer the prospect of fruitful clinical application of our basic knowl­ edge. The Research Society on Alcoholism remains devoted to the task of promoting the generation of knowledge regarding the actions of alcohol and the mechanisms which produce alcohol abuse and alcoholism.