One of the major public health issues that the author will focus on is alcohol abuse. Alcohol is one of the most popular and legally available drugs. Alcohol abuse involves consuming alcohol in such a way that it causes harm to the user and those close to them – physically, psychologically and socially. The author will explore the impact of alcohol on the individual and community as well as alcohol policy, while critically evaluating the role of the nurse and the effectiveness of policy. First, it is important to know the underlying causes of alcohol abuse. These are stressors at work, including fear of job loss, conflicts with peers, etc. and other factors according to research are sociability (71%), like liking (51%) to feeling comfortable (12%) to getting drunk (6%). get drunk (2%), because everyone does it (6%) and to forget about problems (web4health 2008) and socio-economic factors. (Report of the Ministerial Working Group on Health Inequalities - Volume 2)The impact of alcohol abuse on the individual includes the risk of contracting many physical illnesses, including several types of cancers, hypertension, strokes, epilepsy and liver cirrhosis. Psychiatric risks include depression, suicidal feelings, personality deterioration, dementia and mental retardation. (WHO Report, 2002). Other effects on the individual include accidents and crime, social relationships, job losses, marital problems, domestic violence or abuse and the devastating impact on families and children. (DOH 2011). At a community or population level, the total cost of alcohol harm is estimated to be between £17.7 billion and £25.1 billion per year, including £2.7 billion per year for the NHS. Other effects on the community are parks/playgrounds unusable due to litter...... middle of paper ......looking at the causes of alcohol abuse in order to deduce policies and strategies. The prevalence of alcohol problems depends on per capita consumption and, for this reason, alcohol policy must take into account both the general level of alcohol consumption of a population as well as its drinking habits. consumption. There is no doubt that drinking patterns play an important role in alcohol-related harm, as do societal levels of alcohol consumption. According to Bright (1997), nurses lack assertiveness, mainly because, in the past, assertive behavior has not received support from nursing managers. This has led to a situation where nurses no longer have a role in decisions and policy making. As a society, we need to better understand alcohol abuse if we are to tackle some of the major health, economic and social burdens facing current and future generations..