Treatments of Alcoholism Alcoholism can destroy the life of an alcoholic and devastate the alcoholic's family. But it also has overwhelming consequences for society. Consider these statistics from the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence: *In 1988, alcoholism and problems related to it cost the United States an estimated $85.8 billion in mortality and reduced productivity; *Fetal alcohol syndrome, caused by a woman's drinking during pregnancy, afflicts five thousand infants a year; it costs about $1.4 billion annually to treat the infants, children and adults afflicted with FAS; *More