Independent Familial Transmission of Alcoholism and Opiate Abuse

Interviews were conducted with 32 alcoholics, 72 opiate addicts, and 42 alcoholic‐opiate addicts, and information was gained about the practices of their families. Alcoholism tended to cluster in families to a significant extent while, in contrast, alcoholism and opiate abuse did not occur in the same families significantly more or less often than expected by chance. Doubt is clearly cast on any unitary concept of addiction‐proneness.