David --
   There is an article by Jürgen Rehm --  I think the one below -- which compares estimated rates of dependence with estimated levels of alcohol consumption for different subregions of the world.  Also you can see the figures for yourself on pp. 35-36 of Babor et al., Alcohol - No Ordinary Commodity (2003).  The ratio tends to be higher for the Americas (south as well as north) and for India than for elsewhere.
   The rates of alcohol dependence are as defined by ICD-10 and measured in the World Mental Health Survey, and in my view reflect a strong component of how much the society worries about drinking (see 1996 abstract below).
   Robin


Rehm J, Eschmann S. Global monitoring of average volume of alcohol consumption. Soz Praventivmed. 2002;47(1):48-58.

OBJECTIVES: To estimate the prevalence of different categories of average volume of alcohol consumption for World Health Organization (WHO) regions. To check how the monitored indicator of average volume relates to prevalence of alcohol dependence. To discuss conclusions for establishing a global monitoring system. METHODS: Prevalence of different categories of average volume of alcohol consumption was estimated by a triangulation of survey results, production, and sales figures. The relation between average volume of consumption and prevalence of alcohol dependence was analysed by regression techniques. RESULTS: Alcohol consumption varies widely by sex, age, and region. It can predict prevalence of dependence with about 74% of the variation of the latter explained. CONCLUSIONS: With current data, global monitoring of alcohol is possible. However, more and better surveys are necessary for the future. They should include patterns of drinking to improve prediction of other health outcomes like coronary heart disease (CHD) and accidents.

Room, R.; Janca, A.; Bennett, L.A.; Schmidt, L.; Sartorius, N. WHO cross-cultural applicability research on diagnosis and assessment of substance use disorders: An overview of methods and selected results. Addiction, 91(2):199-220, 1996.  
     The cross-cultural applicability of criteria for the diagnosis of substance use disorders and of instruments used for their assessment were studied in nine cultures. The qualitative and quantitative methods used in the study are described. Equivalents for English terms and concepts were found for all instrument items, diagnostic criteria, diagnoses and concepts, although often there was no single term equivalent to the English in the languages studied. Items assuming self-consciousness about feelings, and imputing causal relations, posed difficulties in several cultures. Single equivalent terms were lacking for some diagnostic criteria, and criteria were sometimes not readily differentiated from one another. Several criteria narrowing of the drinking repertoire, time spent obtaining and using the drug, and tolerance for the drug were less easy to use in cultures other than the United States. Thresholds for diagnosis used by clinicians often differed. In most cultures clinicians were more likely to make a diagnosis of drug dependence than of alcohol dependence although behavioral signs were equivalent. The attitudes of societies to alcohol and drug use affects the use of criteria and the making of diagnoses. 27 Ref. 


-----Original Message-----
From: Alcohol and Drugs History Society [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of David Fahey
Sent: Monday, October 10, 2005 11:50 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: addiction in the USA

USA Today, 10 October 2005, includes an article by Rita Rubin, "Addiction Has Many Fathers,  Science Finds," the first in a series  
on drug and alcohol (with a related HBO special in January 2007).   
Among other things, the article cites a 2004 National Survey on Drug Use and Health that among Americans aged 12 and up nearly 8.4 million were addicted to alcohol and nearly 5 million to other drugs, with about 1.4 million addicted to both alcohol and other drugs.  In this context, addiction meant more than dependency.  It meant the inability to stop.  The article emphasized the role of stress in creating addiction and also family environment/inheritance.

My question: is the per capita addictions in the USA comparable to that elsewhere or higher or lower?