Book excerpt: Alcohol Abuse (problem drinkers) and Alcoholism (drinking problems) constitute the top public health and public safety issues in America, to the tune of $220 billion in costs per year. Alcohol overuse is our number one killer and is behind more illness and ER visits than any other aspect of our society including cancer and obesity. As more people join your insurance pool this decade with health insurance reform, the amounts people drink and how they get help if they need it ARE your business. WHAT THE EARLY WORM GETS is a biting essay on the differences between alcohol abusers and those with Alcoholism from a writer who silently and rapidly hit bottom and bounced off it a few times. What is the disease, what isnt, and what constitutes treatment? What happens when an ordinary, educated, middle-class man does hard time for drinking and driving? How does the system today fail?