National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence

The National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (NCADD) was founded in 1944 by the first female member of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), Marty Mann (1905-1980), and has a nationwide network of 95 affiliates. The organization is set up to fight "the stigma and the disease of alcoholism and other drug addictions." NCADD also assists in the education of Americans that "alcoholism and other drug addictions are preventable and treatable." However, it doesn’t limit its activities to fighting the abuse of alcohol and drugs.

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Historically, NCADD produced radio and television campaigns to educate Americans about alcoholism and to prevent teens from drinking. The group pioneered the development of employee assistance programs, advocated successfully for the placement of warning labels on alcoholic beverages, promotes Alcohol Awareness month each April, and maintains a registry of addiction recovery to encourage Americans to speak openly about their experiences with addiction.

NCADD’s president Stacia Murphy says, "As a society, we’ve got to do a far better job of persuading our citizens and our young people that alcohol use is a dead end, that they are playing Russian roulette, not only with their own lives, but with the lives of friends, neighbors, and loved ones."^[1]

Current activities

The medical/scientific committee of NCADD stated its belief in February 2006 that alcoholism and addiction are diseases that are primary and chronic yet treatable. In 2006, NCADD is developing a national campaign to educate Americans regarding the overall impact of alcoholism and addiction, the goal of which is to reduce the heavy cost of addiction to American society estimated to be in the billions of dollars annually.