Currently and in the near future, alcohol and other substance abuse is the most serious threat to Finnish public health. Research has shown that the number of alcohol-induced health problems is directly related to total alcohol consumption. Every year, about 2,200 persons die as a result of alcohol abuse and about 100 as the result of drug abuse, which amounts to about 5% of all deaths. In 2002, the number of hospitalisations with a substance-abuse-related illness as the main cause was about 25,000.
The objective of alcohol research is to understand the pathogenesis of alcohol-related illnesses and to utilise this understanding to develop methods for the prevention, detection and treatment of hazards. One of our central challenges is to find out why the controlled use of a substance develops into an uncontrollable addiction in some individuals. Data from the research into the function of nerves paths and neurotransmitter systems and into the genes controlling the tendency to addiction has helped to understand this and other important issues.
On a societal level, the research can have an impact on alcohol consumption, on alcohol-induced social and health hazards and on the development of new therapies aimed at controlling hazards.