|
THE NATIONAL COUNCIL ON ALCOHOLISM AND DRUG DEPENDENCE YESTERDAY AND TODAY MISSION The mission of the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, Inc. (NCADD), a National and Affiliate partnership serving communities throughout the United States, is to reduce the incidence and prevalence of: 1) the disease of alcoholism, 2) other drug addiction diseases and 3) related problems. In pursuit of this mission, NCADD seeks to:
To Achieve Its Mission, NCADD:
NCADD carries out its mission by direct actions of the Board of Directors and its staff and through a nationwide network of state and local Affiliate organizations and volunteers.
HISTORY
Mrs. Marty Mann 1944 -1953 Mrs. Marty Mann, the first woman to stay sober in Alcoholics Anonymous, founded the National Committee for Education on Alcoholism known today as the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (NCADD) in 1944. Her objective was to create a nationwide community-based organization to teach the American public that alcoholism was a treatable and preventable disease and to reduce the stigma associated with the disease. NCADD is a testament to the power of one individual. Marty Mann’s vision – to create the National Committee for Education on Alcoholism – sprang from her own personal experience with her recovery and her commitment to help other alcoholics. Not long after Marty Mann became the first woman to stay sober in Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), she resolved to let America know that alcoholism is a disease and that the alcoholic is a sick person. Ms. Mann recognized the need to have support from an established academic institution; she collaborated with Yale University where E.M. Jellinek – the father of the modern disease concept – and some of the most progressive minds in the country had been working to transform alcoholism from a moral problem into a public health issue. Ms. Mann and a single secretary opened the New York City office of the National Committee for Education on Alcoholism on October 2, 1944. New York had nine newspapers, and Ms. Mann used her public relations skills to make sure they all covered the event. When the wire services picked up the story, editorial pages were quick to applaud what they called a new, rational approach, and soon speaking requests began pouring in from all over the country. Ms. Mann recognized from the very beginning that she could not change America’s attitudes about alcoholism all by herself. Her earliest goals included establishing community organizations, which would operate information centers as well as procure beds in hospital for alcoholics, whose disease was then more likely to land them in jail. The timing was perfect, the success of AA and the attention generated by the Hollywood release of The Lost Weekend created a steady flow for information about alcoholism. Even the government and industry turned to the new organization for advice. The volume of speaking and writing requests, constant press interviews, thousands of inquires from the public and the task of developing and distributing educational material nearly overwhelmed the organization, which Ms. Mann described as the “spark plug” for a new kind of health movement. A decade later, NCADD amicably severed formal ties to Yale University to avoid a too closely identification with a single school of though about alcoholism. It had changed its name to the National Committee on Alcoholism and acquired NCA, the acronym that would identify it for the next forty years. During the first ten years, more than 50 communities in 27 states had established Affiliates to continue NCADD’s work at a local level. State governments had begun developing alcoholism programs with tax dollars instead of relying on punitive sanctions to deal with the problem. The disease concept was beginning to take root among the medical community as seen in the number of General Hospitals accepting acute cases of alcoholism from less than 100 to 3,000.
1954 -1963 As most young organizations, NCADD struggled with sufficient financial resources to accomplish the work it had set out to do. Despite a 1957 Roper poll that showed 58% of the nation viewed alcoholism as a disease (compared to 6% in 1943), stigma still made fund raising a difficult proposition. In 1954, the alcoholism movement – and NCADD in particular – found its greatest patron, R. Brinkley Smithers. Mr. Smithers’ financial resources allowed NCADD to thrive throughout the 50’s and early 60’s. This period also marked NCADD’s full-time entry into the medical and research field with the appointment of Ruth Fox, MD to the staff in 1959. Through her evaluations of new treatment methods and professional educational programs, NCADD legitimized it role as a public health organization. Recognition from the federal government quickly followed. During NCADD’s 15th Anniversary Dinner, the secretary of Health, Education and Welfare called NCADD America’s agency on alcoholism. The official acknowledgement translated into federal funding for research projects, including a groundbreaking statistical analysis of the socio-cultural, economic and psychological characteristics of alcoholics. President Eisenhower was the first of three presidents to support Alcoholism Information Week, a new project launched by NCADD. Capitalizing on America’s favorite entertainment medium, Marty Mann with celebrities Pat Boone, Art Carney, Jonathan Winters and Shirley Jones recorded television spots to promote the campaign to increase America’s awareness on alcoholism. NCADD also assisted the producers of the Armstrong Circle Theater and the Alfred Hitchcock show in developing early dramatic programs that sympathetically explored the subject of alcoholism. These reached vast new audiences in their living rooms and gave NCADD an incredibly influential forum for its message.
1964 - 1973 In the early 60’s Corporate America began to acknowledge the fact that alcoholism in the workforce cost employers substantial amounts of money and by 1964, 205 companies up from 75 a few years earlier turned to NCADD for advice in developing employee assistance programs (EAPS). As the leader in this movement, NCADD helped form a professional society of executives and consultants. By the end of the 70’s, NCADD had published the first labor approved EAP guidelines and employees had access to 5,000 EAP programs. By 1965, Congress began holdings hearings about the need to establish a federal agency to deal exclusively with the problems caused by alcoholism. A year later, President Johnson appointed Marty Mann to the first national advisory commission on alcoholism. During that same year, the Washington, DC Affiliate won precedent setting legal victories when two federal courts recognized alcoholism as a disease. With the appointment of Frank Seixas, MD as medical director in 1969, NCADD placed a greater emphasis on educating the medical community. More than 30 medical schools attended a training conference hosted by NCADD and formal criteria for the diagnosis of alcoholism were developed. An annual medical/scientific conference convened and by 1973, the physician compromising the membership of what is now the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) had become a component of NCADD. In 1970, Congress passed the Hughes Act. The legislation established the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA). NCADD contracted by NIAAA provided the initial assistance to develop and conduct comprehensive health, education, training, research and planning programs in the areas of prevention and treatment of alcoholism.
1974 - 1983 In 1975, NCADD funded a fetal alcohol study group, which urged researchers to standardize techniques in their investigation of this recently discovered phenomenon. Under NCADD’s umbrella, the National Nurses Society on Addiction and the Research Society on Alcoholism with ASAM began publishing Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research. NCADD and ASAM jointly developed their own definition of alcoholism in 1976. NCADD made its own unique contribution to the celebration of the nation’s bicentennial in 1976 with Operation Understanding. Continuing in its efforts to fight the stigma of alcoholism, a dramatic and emotional event brought together more than 50 well-known and widely respected figures – including “Buzz” Aldrin, actor Dick Van Dyke and congressional representative Wilbur Mills – to a press conference in Washington, DC where they announced their recovery from alcoholism. Newsweek later called it one of the most important news stories of the 70’s. The United States Postal service issuance of an alcoholism stamp with NCADD’s corporate symbol in 1981 symbolically demonstrated a reduction by Americans toward the stigma of alcoholism.
1983 - 1993 Women’s issues came to the forefront of NCADD’s agenda during the 80’s. The results of a study in 1987 of publicly funded women’s alcoholism programs positioned NCADD to lead a coalition to demand improved access to treatment for alcohol and other drug dependent women and their children. Alcohol and Other Drug-Related Birth Defects Awareness Week initiated by a joint congressional resolution signed by President Reagan in 1984 originated from the coalition. Alcohol Awareness Month, NCADD’s other major awareness program which had evolved from Alcohol Information Week and was now kicked off by Alcohol-Free Weekend drew support in 1990 from Surgeon General Antonia Novello, MD as honorary chair, and the federal center for Substance Abuse Prevention. Dr. Novello urged the nation “to draw the line against underage drinking” and hundreds of grassroots groups across the country participated in the greatly expanded campaign with NCADD-developed materials distributed by the government. Responding to the change of a younger alcoholic that was commonly addicted to more than one substance, NCADD expanded its mission to include other drugs in 1987, adding Drug Dependence to its name in 1990 to reflect this change. In addition, with adolescents using alcohol at earlier ages and in greater numbers, NCADD gradually shifted its focus to preventing alcohol-related problems through educational efforts targeted at youth and by addressing environmental factors that shaped public attitudes about drinking. Implemented at a federal level by 1990 were two of NCADD’s prevention strategies: excise taxes rose on beer and wine for the first time in 30 years and warning labels began appearing on alcoholic beverage containers.
1994-2004 As NCADD entered the decade that would carry it into the new millennium, technological information innovations greatly enhanced the organization’s ability to fulfill its mission. With the development of a widely acclaimed website and the emergence of the National Intervention Network, NCADD found new and effective ways to disseminate information. Cable television proved to be a highly effective medium with youth as seen in NCADD’s 1994 teen alcohol prevention campaign, Blind Date and Rough Night, two gender-specific public service spots created particularly for the MTV generation. Additionally, with funding from the Christopher D. Smithers Foundation, NCADD launched Brink’s Place, an hour-long cable television show focused on the science and medical aspects of alcoholism. Another important broadcast NCADD assisted in was Close to Home: Moyers on Addiction, a five-part series on PBS-TV. With a grant from the Christopher D. Smithers Foundation, NCADD was able to use the Internet to spread its educational message to students writing reports, the media, other professionals and the public about alcohol and other drugs and related problems. In 1999, NCADD’s website attracted an average of 10,000 visitors each month and in 2003, that number increased to nearly 70,000. In 1995, NCADD originated a highly effective prevention program to help parents talk to their children about alcohol use and created the video “What Should I Tell My Child About Drinking?” narrated by Meryl Streep. NCADD’s work in the area of public policy continued with efforts to achieve parity in insurance coverage for addiction treatment. NCADD participated in the National Treatment Plan Initiative that provided a working consensus on how best to improve substance abuse treatment. NCADD through its national affiliate network vigorously supported the Congressional amendment that would allow the federal Office of National Drug Control Policy to include underage drinking prevention messages in its anti-drug youth media. In Washington, NCADD made headlines in 1997 when it filed a petition demanding the Federal Communications Commission use its power to require alcoholic beverages counter advertising. A few years later, using its landmark prevention statement as a benchmark, the Public Policy office continued in its efforts of opposition of federal government approval of labels that would have allowed wine producers to make health claims on bottle labels. In an effort to build stronger grassroots constituency to advocate on behalf of alcoholics and other drug addicts, NCADD initiated ROAR (Registry of Addiction Recovery), a new volunteer campaign to fight stigma where people with at least two years recovery were encouraged to step forward as inspirational role models without compromising their anonymity traditions. Through ROAR, NCADD helped put a human face on recovery in media interviews. NCADD continued to convene a series of community forums in 2002 on stigma and discrimination to collect testimony and prepare public policy recommendations. In 2004, NCADD joined other advocacy organizations to oppose an NBC-TV proposal to air alcohol advertising on network television and to protest a major marketing campaign by an internally known perfume named Addict. Both efforts were successful.
The Future of NCADD As NCADD enters the twenty first century, the board of directors and its Affiliates are recommitting themselves to their historical public education and public policy advocacy mission and NCADD is rebuilding relationships with its grassroots Affiliates that have been its hallmark of success. The achievements of the Modern Alcoholism Movement are due in great part to the ability of NCADD to transmit its core ideas and their policy implications into major institutions of American culture: the media, medicine, government and law, business and industry, and religion. NCADD and its Affiliates are re-forging relationships of influence within these areas to continue the work of Marty Mann. |
| About Us | |
| Services Provided | |
|
|
|
| Symptoms | |
|
|
|
| Commentary | |
|
|
|
|
Resource Guide
|
|
| Contact Us | |
|
|
|
Copyright NCADD 2008
Klasic Web Designs 2008
