Validity of the One-Criterion Threshold for an Alcohol Abuse Diagnosis/Dr. Schuckit Replies

When the authors looked at drug-related history to compare subjects with onecriterion abuse to subjects without an alcohol use disorder, they did mention drug use (significant difference for cocaine use only) but failed to mention the more relevant prior history of drug abuse or dependence. Similarly, Drs. de Bruijn and van den Brink contend that our results suggested that all abuse criteria performed equally well, but our tables note differences in the proportion endorsing specific items, their demography, and some differences in outcome (e.g., 1.7 future problems for those with hazardous use versus 3.05 for those with baseline social problems).