The Task Force wishes to extend a special thank you to Dr. Enoch Gordis for
his leadership and dedication. Dr. Gordis stepped down as Director of NIAAA
on December 30, 2001, after 15 years of outstanding leadership. He was the inspiration
for this project, citing the lack of research on this important public health
problem. "For decades, there has been meeting after meeting that offered
plausible, intelligent recommendations, all with no evaluations. Then, when
these programs fail to work, meetings are again convened to ponder the same
questions. Only through a commitment to research can we truly begin to understand
what can and cannot be done, so that in five or ten years we don't find ourselves
asking the same questions yet again." In light of his vision, we offer
this report as a beginning.