NCADD is the leading advocacy organization in the world addressing alcoholism and drug dependence.  Since 1944, NCADD has raised public awareness about addiction throughout the United States and increasingly across the global community.  NCADD’s founder, Marty Mann, believed alcoholism was a disease, that it could be treated and it should be treated like a public health problem.  Marty advocated this belief strongly to the medical and scientific community.

The foundation of NCADD was built on three simple ideas:

• Alcoholism is a disease and the alcoholic is a sick person;
• The alcoholic can be helped and is worth helping;
• This is a public health problem and therefore a public responsibility.

Today, the same belief holds true and drugs have joined alcohol as pernicious substances affecting individual health, families and communities.  The abuse of alcohol and drugs and the response to provide avenues for education, treatment and prevention remain the core behind what has shaped and continues to guide the history of NCADD as a vessel for hope.

“Everyone of us who has learned anything about alcoholism and drug dependence can perform an invaluable service merely by passing on our information as widely as possible; bringing the subject of alcoholism and drug dependence up as a matter of general interest; talking about it far and wide.  We can thus break forever the ancient and outdated taboo on alcoholism and drug dependence.” - Marty Mann

NCADD and our National Network of Affiliates serve individuals, families, workplaces, and schools at all levels from elementary to university, government, media, health providers and researchers, public health professionals, law enforcement personnel, clergy, psychological therapeutic community, educators and many national and global health organizations.

Last year, 43 million individuals and families were served by NCADD!  How?  Here area a few examples from NCADD:  A Symbol of Hope and Help.

• Over 713,000 Information and Referral calls for help to NCADD and our National Network of Affiliates;
• Community Education;
• Media Campaigns in communities across America;
• Intervention Services for Families
• Drinking Driver Programs (DDP’s);
• School and Community-Based Prevention
• Recovery Support and Policy/Advocacy activities

NCADD is a beacon of information and leadership regarding alcoholism and drug dependence (see NCADD History Charts 1944 -2004).

NCADD has a record of achievements such as sponsoring Operation Understanding during the nation’s bicentennial, an initiative that brought 53 well-known individuals together in Washington, DC to recount their alcoholism and tell the world about the immeasurable benefits enjoyed by choosing a path of long-term recovery.  In attendance were Astronaut Buzz Aldrin, Senator Harold Hughes, Congressman Wilbur Mills, Dick Van Dyke, Gary Moore, Don Newcombe, Marty Mann and Ryne Duren, among others.

NCADD is the Founder of the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) concept within America’s corporations and labor unions.  And, NCADD created programs to help parents talk to their children about alcohol and drugs including the video, “What Should I Tell My Child About Drinking?” narrated by the academy award winning actress, Meryl Streep.

Over the years NCADD has played a key role in many major developments in our filed,  including helping to start several important organizations:

• Employee Assistance Professionals Association (EAPA)
• National Nurses Society on Addiction (NNSA)
• Research Society on Alcoholism (RSA)
• American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM)

As NCADD approaches 70 years of helping millions of individuals and family members suffering from alcoholism and drug dependence, we look forward to celebrating our 75^th anniversary later this decade with the ongoing promise that we will strive to continue what Marty Mann started, one day at a time, across the country, with fervor, hope and your support!