A Medicine That Can Help Drinkers

If you drink more alcohol than you want to or should, you’re not alone. A nationwide survey by the National Institutes of Health found that 28 percent of adults in the U.S. are heavy drinkers or drink more than is recommended.

Yet, most heavy drinkers don’t get the help they need.

“The biggest problem we have in the field is that less than 10 percent of individuals with an alcohol use disorder get any treatment whatsoever,” says George Koob, director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

Part of the challenge, researchers say, is that many drinkers don’t realize that a medicine long used to help people addicted to opioids quit their drug habit can help alcoholics and other heavy drinkers cut back, too. To read more from ALLISON AUBREY, click here.