With passage of the Comprehensive Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism Prevention, Treatment and Rehabilitation Act of 1970, a task force was authorized to study the problems associated with alcohol abuse and alcoholism. On February 18, 1972, the first report, Alcohol and Health, was issued. The three major findings were as follows: 1. alcohol is the most abused drug in the United States and can impair health; 2. the abuse of alcohol can lead to alcoholism; and 3. alcoholism is not a crime, it is an illness or disease and, therefore, the criminal law is not an appropriate device for preventing or controlling it.