Introduction: Practical Pharmacotherapeutic Management Strategies for Patients With Alcohol Dependence

Because this piece has no abstract, we have provided for your benefit the first 3 sentences of the full text.

At the beginning of his novel A Tale of Two Cities,Charles Dickens observed, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. . . ." In some respects, a similarobservation could apply to the current state of alcohol dependenceand its treatment in this country.First, the bad news: 17.6 million Americans (about 8.5%of the population) either abused or were dependent on alcoholin 2001-2002.1′ ‹