ABSTRACT
Health education is the special business of various professional groups as well as of government agencies. In more detail, it will concern itself with learning theory; alcohol as a drug; the pressure to use it, which comes from the traditions of the social group concerned, peer and other pressures on the young; occupational, economic and legislative factors, bearing on individual intake; and the competition from other activities such as drug taking and gambling perhaps. Historically, alcoholism has featured very little in medical education at any level. Since so many social workers are already possessed of casework techniques, their main need, before becoming more proficient in helping alcoholics, will be to inform themselves about alcoholism. The greater the progress along that road, the greater the reluctance of the public is likely to be, since all measures which restrict the liberty of the many for the sake of the few are unpopular and therefore politically unattractive.
