www.alkoholpolitik.ch

A study published in the scientific journal Addiction argues that privatising Sweden’s government monopoly on the sale of alcohol will significantly increase alcohol-related violence and other harms. Depending on the type of privatisation, experts predict that total alcohol consumption in Sweden will increase by 17 – 37%, with thousands more alcohol-related deaths, assaults, and drunk driving offences per year and up to 11 million more days of sick leave. …(Source: Medical News Today, 9/02/10)

The British Medical Association (BMA), Alcohol Focus Scotland (AFS) and Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems (SHAAP) have endorsed the updated findings of researchers at Sheffield University on the impact that a minimum price per unit of alcohol will have on Scotland’s drinking culture. (Source: Medical News Today, 8/22/10)

A new article published in a forthcoming issue of The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry concludes that early intervention among young adolescents with delinquency problems may help prevent the development of long-term crime, alcohol use disorders (AUDs), and risky sex behaviors, especially among disadvantaged youth. (Source: Medical News Today, 8/17/10)

“Violence against nurses and other medical professionals appears to be increasing around the country as the number of drug addicts, alcoholics and psychiatric patients showing up at emergency rooms climbs. Nurses have responded, in part, by seeking tougher criminal penalties for assaults against health care workers. … Visits to ERs for drug- and alcohol-related incidents climbed from about 1.6 million in 2005 to nearly 2 million in 2008, according to the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. From 2006 to 2008, the number of those visits resulting in violence jumped from 16,277 to 21,406, the agency said.” (Source: Medical News Today, 8/12/10)

While many have implicated heavy student drinking in recent disturbances even tragedies on college campuses, few schools and communities have united successfully in curbing alcohol access, a new study suggests. For instance, news reports described a history of hard drinking by the University of Virginia lacrosse player charged with murdering his former girlfriend in May. Administrators perceive student drinking as a major concern, but they focus a lot on individual interventions and campus-based alcohol restrictions, and not enough on toughening community policies, said Toben Nelson, Sc.D., a study author and University of Minnesota researcher. (Source: Medical News Today, 7/21/10)

The greatest and most costly failure of the medical profession and public health community is their failure to explain to the American people that addiction to alcohol and other drugs is a disease.
Against the scientific knowledge we now have, physicians’ refusal to give alcohol- and other drug-addicted patients the same medical care and attention they provide individuals with other chronic illnesses like hypertension and diabetes is inconsistent with their Hippocratic oath to “prescribe regimen for the good of my patients…and never to do harm to anyone.” The harm due to this long term failure of the medical profession and public health community is measured in untold lives lost and ruined and the incalculable human misery of families, friends and colleagues of alcoholics and drug addicts. (Source: National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, 7/19/10)

The Australian Drug Foundation is astonished to see not one mention of alcohol and other drugs in all thirteen recommendations from the House of Representatives inquiry into the impact of violence on young Australians. The report, Avoid the Harm – Stay Calm, is due to be released today.
“The report states that the links between alcohol and violent behaviour have been well established, so we can’t understand why there’s no mention of alcohol and other drugs in any of the recommendations,” said John Rogerson. (Source: Medical News Today, 7/16/10) with our online-comment: In Switzerland it took years, till the political authorities accepted officially that alcohol is one of the main reasons of violence. Even public health professionals were afraid to speak about it. Now the wind has changed. Fortunately.

The Canadian province of Saskatchewan’s minimum-pricing policy on high-alcohol beverages has resulted in a decline in public intoxication as well as lower sales of potent products, the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix reported July 6.
The province is among a handful of governments worldwide to set minimum prices based on alcohol content. The policy has caused the prices of 36 targeted products to rise by up to 40 percent.
Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority officials said that public drunkenness and calls to police have declined in the areas where high-alcohol products are consumed most. (Source: Join Together, 7/7/10)

… by San Francisco Supervisor Avalos. San Francisco has broken new ground again by introducing a broad, local alcohol mitigation fee program, to charge alcohol wholesalers for related city and county services. On Thursday the Comptroller’s office is expected to release a “nexus” study showing the relationship of alcohol sales to costs for community behavioral health services, firefighter emergency medical transport and Sheriff inebriate holding costs.
“San Francisco government agencies cannot continue to subsidize the alcohol industry. Alcohol consumption costs San Francisco residents tens of millions of dollars in harm every year,” said Bruce Lee Livingston, executive director of Marin Institute. “It’s time for Big Alcohol, including wholesalers, to pay its fair share. A local alcohol charge for harm fee is long overdue.” (Source: Marin Institute, 6/30/10) Press Release – - – Local Fee Fact Sheet

..to meet cost of policing binge drinkers. Bars and pubs that stay open after 11pm will have to pay a “law and order” fee, following police concerns over the levels of drink-fuelled disorder.
Under plans to dismantle round-the-clock drinking, the government wants late-night bars to help pay for the cost of tackling antisocial behaviour and alcohol-related violence.
Town halls will be given the power to charge premises additional fees for late-night licences, with the amount likely to be graded on the establishment’s popularity. The proposals will run alongside new powers reducing the number of outlets selling alcohol. … (Source: Harvard World Health News, 6/24/10) guardian.co.uk, 6/20/10