The Uniform Alcoholism and Intoxication Treatment Act. The compromising process of social policy formulation.

Abstract

F ALL PROBLEM DRINKERS, the homeless chronic public inebriates present probably the greatest challenge and greatest frustrations for contemporary treatment resources (1, p. 98). The need for reformation of traditional social policies for dealing with public inebriates has been amply documented. The revolving door metaphor dramatically portrays the institutional circularity which characterizes the public inebriate's life: he is taken off the street, processed through drunk tanks, paraded before judges, subjected to various cures, and inevitably returned to the streets to await another ound of life imprisonment on the installment plan (2, p. 11). During the last few years there has been a growing concern with problems of alcohol and, in response, a series of federal policies which support more effective and humane approaches to the problem have been enacted. One of these, the Uniform Alcoholism and Intoxication Treatment Act of 1971, directly addresses the problem of chronic public inebriates. The act embodies a policy whereby public intoxication is no longer a crime punishable by law; instead, it requires that those found publicly intoxicated, including chronic offenders, be treated as sick persons rather