By Angela Bereznak

Clark County Health Department

National Alcohol Screening Day is an outreach, education and screening initiative that raises awareness about harmful and dependent drinking behaviors and connects individuals who are at risk with treatment options.

NASD is held annually on Thursday of the first full week of April.

Thousands of colleges, community-based organizations and military installations provide the program to the public each year.

Alcohol use disorder is a pattern of alcohol use that involves problems controlling your drinking, being preoccupied with alcohol, continuing to use alcohol even when it causes problems, having to drink more to get the same effect or having withdrawal symptoms when you rapidly decrease or stop drinking.

Alcohol use disorder can be mild, moderate or severe, based on the number of symptoms you experience.

Signs and symptoms may include:

— Being unable to limit the amount of alcohol you drink.

— Wanting to cut down on how much you drink or making unsuccessful attempts to do so.

— Spending a lot of time drinking, getting alcohol or recovering from alcohol use.

— Feeling an intense craving or urge to drink alcohol.

— Failing to fulfill significant obligations at work, school or home due to repeated alcohol use.

— Continuing to drink alcohol even though you know it’s causing physical, social or interpersonal problems.

— Giving up or reducing social and work activities and hobbies.

— Using alcohol in situations where it’s not safe, such as when driving or swimming.

— Developing a tolerance to alcohol, so you need more to feel its effect, or you have a reduced effect from the same amount.

— Experiencing withdrawal symptoms — such as nausea, sweating and shaking — when you don’t drink, or drinking to avoid these symptoms.

According to the 2015 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 86.4 percent of people ages 18 or older reported they drank alcohol at some point in their lifetime; 70.1 percent said they drank in the past year; 56.0 percent reported that they drank in the past month.

In 2015, 26.9 percent of people ages 18 or older reported that they engaged in binge drinking in the past month; 7.0 percent said they engaged in heavy alcohol use in the past month.

Alcohol is the third leading preventable cause of death in the United States.

An estimated 88,000 people —  approximately 62,000 men and 26,000 women — die from alcohol-related causes annually, making alcohol the third leading preventable cause of death in the United States.

In 2014, alcohol-impaired driving fatalities accounted for 9,967 deaths, which is 31 percent of overall driving fatalities.

See the list below or visit clarkcountyasap.org/html/treatment.html. for agencies that can support in substance use treatment on their website at

Clark County Health Department provides programs for the entire family, including WIC, HANDS, family planning, well child care/immunizations and home health care. For more information, call 744-4482 or visit www.clarkhealthdept.org or facebook.com/pages/Clark-County-Health-Department.