This second report to the Congress of the United States on Alcohol and Health concentrates on highlighting certain advances in knowledge gained about uses and misuses of alcohol in the last few years. It does not attempt to address all aspects of knowledge, and deliberately bypasses those areas in which new information may be developing but has not yet reached a sufficiently reportable level. This report offers: (1) an authoritative guide to understanding what scientists and scholars are currently studying and reporting, (2) a picture of current realities, and (3) a basis for thinking about problems related to alcohol and their possible solution. This publication is not an authoritative guide for solving moral issues which belong in the realm of personal decision. Emphasis is given to the important and expanding role of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, and its progress toward "programs for people." The legislative mandate for the states to produce a working, viable plan for the provision of alcoholism services has now been implemented in every state of the union, and this mandate is viewed as the most significant progress made in recent years to provide effective, quality treatment to every alcoholic person who needs it. (Author/PC)