www.alkoholpolitik.ch

Youths who call for help when underage drinkers get sick from drinking will get leniency — but not a free pass — from the courts under legislation approved by a Utah Senate panel. (Source: Join Together, 2/24/10)

Lieutenants and captains in the Chicago Police Department will be randomly tested for alcohol on the job and also will face alcohol and other drug tests whenever they fire their weapons, the Chicago Sun-Times reported Feb. 9. A new contract also bans officers from drinking within four hours of going on duty. (Source: Join Together, 2/11/10)

Drinking at the last chance saloon…or – there is no place for integrity in academic medicine.
Distinguished voices are lining up behind England’s chief medical officer Liam Donaldson in support of a minimum price for alcohol. The BMA and the Royal College of Physicians have made a good case, and this week they are joined by the combined weight of the Faculty of Public Health and the Royal Society for Public Health. These two bodies list a minimum price for alcohol among 12 policy changes that will save many lives and relieve pressure on the NHS. As the faculty’s president Alan Maryon-Davies says, in lean times such act ion is all the more essential…. (Source: Google Alkohol News, 2/7/10) schiwago.blogspot.com, 2/7/10

“Rape educators want to train New Zealand’s bar staff to intervene when they see ‘predatory males’ plying women with drinks during the Rugby World Cup. Rape Prevention Education (formerly Rape Crisis) has teamed up with the police, Accident Compensation Corporation and the hospitality industry to train 130 bar staff in Auckland and Wellington in a pilot programme this year. Director Kim McGregor said she hoped the other agencies would help to extend the programme nationally in the lead-up to the World Cup, which kicks off in September 2011. ‘We need to do much more on prevention and social attitudes, for example around the [Cup],’ she said. ‘For us it’s an opportunity. We have two years to prepare for it.’ The programme targets bars because three-quarters of sexual offenders and half of all “date rape” victims were drinking or taking drugs before offences occurred. A fifth of sexual violence happens in or around licensed premises.” (Source: Harvard World Health News, 12/17/09) The New Zealand Herald, 12/12/09

The Royal College of Nursing today (17th December) welcomed the launch of new guidance for parents, children and young people on alcohol consumption, published by the Chief Medical Officer. Dr Peter Carter, Chief Executive & General Secretary of the RCN, said: “Both in A&E departments and in classrooms nurses see the devastating effects alcohol is having on young people everyday – it is damaging not just their health but also their education, development and general wellbeing. (Source: Medical News Today, 12/17/09) // guardian.co.uk, 12/17/09

A panel of Kansas University students has rejected a proposed policy change that would have allowed housing staffers to enter students’ rooms after knocking and being denied entry if they had probable cause — something like hearing students chanting “Chug! Chug!” or detecting an odor of marijuana. Members of Student Senate’s Student Rights Committee unanimously voted against the proposal, with many citing privacy concerns as the main reasoning behind their vote. (Source: Google Alkohol Alert, 11/21/09) ktka.com, 11/19/09

Otago University has banned alcohol advertising and sponsorship from its events. The ban, believed to be the first of its type in New Zealand, took effect immediately. According to the university the move was a step towards addressing the “grim and chronic national problem” of binge drinking. “These facts about the wider environment need to be acknowledged by critics who demand that the University of Otago should instantly solve its student behaviour problems.” “Our problems cannot be solved until the culture of binge drinking among New Zealand youth is radically altered,” professor Skegg said. (Source: EUCAM Newsletter, 11/17/09) The New Zealand Herald, 10/14/09

Emergency physician Mary Claire O’Brien, M.D., of Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, has done extensive research on the risks and dangers of alcoholic energy drinks (AEDs). She is available to comment on her research which has been cited in the ongoing effort by state attorneys general to ban the drinks. On Nov. 13, the FDA asked 30 munaufacturers of AEDs to provide safety data related to adding caffeine and other stimulants to their products. O’Brien’s research found that college students who reported consuming alcohol mixed with energy drinks had significantly higher prevalence of alcohol-related consequences such as sexual assault and injury. Source: Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center (Source: Medical News Today, 11/14/09) (Source: Medical News Today, 11/14/09) newscientist, 11/21/09

College athletes who use performance-enhancing substances may be at heightened risk of misusing alcohol and using recreational drugs as well, according to new research in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs. The study, of 234 male athletes at one university, found that those who used performance enhancers — ranging from steroids to stimulants to weight-loss supplements — were more likely to admit to heavy drinking and using drugs like marijuana and cocaine. (Source: Medical News Today, 11/12/09)

A United Airlines pilot has been charged with being over the alcohol limit to fly a plane after police at Heathrow arrested him just before his aircraft took off bound for Chicago with 124 passengers and 11 crew on board. (Source: Google Alkohol Alert, 11/11/09) guardian.co.uk, 11/10/09