"One of the principal payoffs of biological research in genetics and neuroscience is the potential for developing medications to treat a variety of alcohol use problems. Neuroscience research already has provided the groundwork for new medications for treating alcoholism. Researchers now are looking for new medications that target the mechanisms of the addiction itself, such as drugs that interfere with the reward properties of alcohol or craving, which are thought to be major factors in relapse. It is likely that no one medication will be effective for everyone nor that there will be the proverbial “silver bullet” of pharmacotherapies for alcoholism. Just as there are different types of medications with different mechanisms of action to treat complex diseases like diabetes, it is likely that there will be a range of medications, coupled with verbal therapies, available to clinicians"