Epidemiologic studies have demonstrated that non-abstinent goals like asymptomatic and low-risk drinking are plausible, viable recovery goals for individuals recovering from AUD. Results from the 2001–2002 National Epidemiologic Study on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC) showed that of those with prior-to-past-year alcohol dependence (N=4,422), 11.8% drank asymptomatically and 17.7% were low-risk drinkers in the year prior to being interviewed (Dawson et al. 2005). In two Canadian general population surveys of more than 13,000 respondents combined, 38–63% of those are in recovery (i.e., free of alcohol-related problems in the past 12 months and drinking within national guidelines managed to continue drinking at low-risk levels (Sobell, Cunningham, and Sobell 1996). In a large study of adults (N=995) who had participated in randomized trials of outpatient treatment for AUD, 14% were low-risk drinkers (no days of 5+) six months post-treatment (Kline-Simon et al. 2013). Unlike epidemiologic studies that use lower severity general population samples (Dawson, Goldstein, and Grant 2007), Kline-Simon and colleagues used higher severity treatment samples and still found that non-abstinent treatment outcomes are both attainable and beneficial. Furthermore, both low-risk drinking
