The physical, social, and psychological problems associated with the misuse of alcohol and other drugs affect all levels of society and are extremely costly. However, compared with the considerable research and resulting recent advances in knowledge devoted to exploring the nature of drugdependence, there has been less attention given to the nature and causes of the resulting problems. For example, why the effects of alcohol should be more devastating in the young, or more prevalent in the socially disadvantaged, or the extent to which one can infer that drugs cause crime, areimportant theoretical and practical questions.The conference on which the book is based provided a unique forum for an international array of experts in the addictions field to focus on the practical and research issues surrounding alcohol and drug-related problems. The principal strength of the resulting analysis lies in the broadmultidisciplinary perspective afforded by participants from the fields of sociology, psychology, philosophy, epidemiology, and medicine. This volume, which aims to point to the extent as well as to the limitations of the current state of knowledge, will provide a valuable overview and rence sourcefor both professionals and students.