As the initial stage in developing a curriculum to assist family physicians to diagnose and manage alcohol abuse in their practices, questionnaires were mailed to a selected group of family physicians. A total of 117 physicians (34%) completed the questionnaire. The majority of physicians (70.1%) reported that fewer than 10% of their caseload experienced alcohol-related problems. Most physicians (59.3%) did not use any of the standard diagnostic instruments but reported that screening and detection was the most challenging alcohol-related problem along with patient management. The questionnaire identified a number of areas that could be used in the development of educational strategies to increase the expertise of primary care physicians in the diagnosis and management of alcohol-related problems.