Alcohol consumption is one of the most common habitual behaviors in the general population. In North America, two thirds of the population consumes alcohol. The magnitude of the socio-economic and health problems involved is enormous.The liver is the organ most commonly affected by chronic use, but damage to the pan-creatic, cardiovascular, nervous, hematological and endocrine systems is not less impor -tant, and even this leaves aside the issues of the psychological and social implications which may have the greatest impacts on social development.Chronic alcoholic liver disease covers a very broad spectrum that can range from hepatic steatosis to advanced cirrhosis which is the most prevalent liver disease in the world. It ranks fifth among the general causes of mortality and is a frequent cause of hospitalization and medical disability.In Latin America, we have data from some countries such as Peru where the main cause of liver cirrhosis is alcohol. However, in Colombia there are almost no demo-graphic or other data on alcoholic liver disease. What information has been reported comes from data isolated from reports from medical centers about pathologies invol-ving alcohol and autoimmune disease that lead to transplantation for example. This type of information may vary significantly from region to region and even within the same region depending on the type of patient that is treated at each institution. There is also a very interesting study about the use homemade alcoholic beverages, especially in rural areas described, that are sometimes even consumed from childhood. Finally, we have characterizations of patient populations with cirrhosis.Nevertheless, there is no record or registration dedicated to alcohol consumption or to the epidemiology of alcoholic liver disease. This has led to the use of treatment guidelines from other countries, or written on the basis of the experiences of other countries, especially in Europe and North America, which in most cases are not applicable to our population.Not everyone is aware that there is also underreporting of information. Most of the population has absolutely no data of the impact of alcohol consumption in society, much less about alcoholic liver disease. This makes monitoring strategies nearly impos-sible, and makes it very difficult to treat for individuals who consume alcohol, not to speak of the difficulty of analyzing existing records.When we take a comprehensive look at the impact of uncontrolled drinking and begin to detail not only its implications in terms of liver disease, but also its impacts on other organs, on mental health, on social and economic conditions, on families, on earning capacity, and on highway accidents and mortality, we realize that the impacts of alcohol consumption are far from negligible.