www.alkoholpolitik.ch

South Dakota State University researchers have demonstrated for the first time that a plant-derived compound used to treat nicotine addiction also has significant effects against alcohol addiction.
SDSU scientists are now investigating whether the compound may offer lasting treatment against alcohol relapse, craving, and perhaps alcohol-nicotine co-addiction as well. (Source: Medical News Today, 10/21/10)

If we are serious about educating our children at every level from elementary school through college, we’d better recognize that money alone will not solve the problem. We can fill our schools with all the modern gadgetry — computers, great graphics, television screens in every classroom, internet tutoring — and we can pay teachers, principals, professors and college presidents more and more money. That’s the easy stuff.

The tough stuff is revamping communities, strengthening parents and families, and getting rid of the drugs and the alcohol abuse that infect so many schools and campuses. If we don’t tackle the tough stuff, these high ticket investments are not likely to have more than a marginal impact and we’ll still be “Waiting for ‘Superman’”. (by Joseph A. Califano, Jr., The Chairmans Corner, 10/21/10)

A broad coalition of Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs), employers, federal officials, researchers, and behavioral health care providers wants to see EAPs screen and provide brief intervention for problem drinking on a routine basis by October 2011.
The BIG initiative (named for the Brief Intervention Group) set the ambitious goal of increasing the number of people identified by EAPs as having alcohol problems by 100% between October 2008 and October 2011. (Source: Join Together, 10/21/10)

Local officials in Washington state say that two proposed initiatives to deregulate the state’s liquor industry would shrink their budgets, the Columbian reported Oct. 12.
The state collects monies from excise taxes and from permits, licenses, and retail sales paid to the state’s liquor control board. Those funds are distributed to the state’s cities and counties each year. (Source: Join Together, 10/21/10)

Peter Mercer, president of New Jersey’s Ramapo College, has banned caffeinated alcoholic beverages on campus after a rash of hospitalizations among students consuming them, the Associated Press reported Oct. 19.
One brand of the beverages, Four Loko, is gaining popularity among high school and college students due to its low cost, high alcohol content, and fruity, easy-to-drink flavors. A 23.5-ounce can of Four Loko contains as much alcohol as four beers. (Source: Join Together, 10/21/10)

Researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine have discovered a gene variant that may protect against alcoholism.
The variant, in a gene called CYP2E1, is associated with a person’s response to alcohol. For the ten to twenty percent of people that possess this variant, those first few drinks leave them feeling more inebriated than the rest of the human population, who harbor a different version of the gene. (Source: Medical News Today, 10.20.10)

Ein bis zwei Gläser Wein wöchentlich fördern das menschliche Denkvermögen. Die Weintrinker schlügen mit ihrer Hirnleistung sogar Menschen, (nur Frauen) die überhaupt keinen Alkohol anrührten, berichten Norwegische Forscher in der Tromsø Studie. Die Ergebnisse wurden im Fachblatt „Acta Neurologica Scandinavica“ veröffentlicht. (Quelle: netdoktor, 20.10.10) Kommentar: Wieder eine zweifelhafte Studie. Dass nur abstinente Frauen schlechter abschneiden wird meist nicht erwähnt, dass es auch daran liegen könnte, dass moderate Weintrinker ein besseres Bildungsniveau und höheren sozialen Status aufweisen und allgemein gesünder leben, auch nicht. Damit werden auch die Ergebnisse in Bezug auf die Herzkrankheiten relativiert, die bei den Untersuchten gleichfalls ein Thema waren.

Frauen werden durch Alkohol glücklich, Männer melancholisch? Alles quatsch, wie eine neue Studie jetzt bewies.
Männer neigen mehr zum Alkohol als Frauen. Die Tatsache ist lange bekannt, wer irgendeinen Zweifel daran hat, sollte an einem x-beliebigen Tag in einem x-beliebigen Winkel der Welt in eine Kneipe seiner Wahl gehen und einfach mal schauen, wer da so am Tresen hängt – okay, vielleicht sollte diese Kneipe nicht unbedingt in Großbritannien sein. Aber überall anders bietet sich folgendes Bild: Eine Überzahl schweigender Männer, eine Hand am Glas, eisern vor sich hinstarrend, wahlweise auf einen Bildschirm auf dem eine Sportsendung übertragen wird, in die Luft oder auf die weibliche Minderheit vor Ort. (Quelle: Google Alkohol News, 21.10.10) welt.de, 20.10.10

Chapel Hill – Die Wirkung von Alkohol auf das Gehirn wird von der Aktivität der Enzyme beeinflusst, die Ethanol im Körper abbauen. Das Gen für eines dieser Enzyme wird von US-Forschern in Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research (2010; doi: 10.1111/j.1530-0277.2010.01317.x) jetzt mit dem verminderten Risiko einer Alkoholabhängigkeit in Verbindung gebracht. Wer schneller beschwipst ist, sei weniger suchtgefährdet. (Quelle: Deutsches Ärzteblatt, 21.10.10)

The Treatment Research Institute (TRI) released on Sept. 13 a white paper outlining the successes and challenges faced by model programs aimed at integrating substance abuse services into primary care. The institute believes the paper can serve as a much-needed “roadmap” for new integration projects across the country.
The report, entitled „Integrating Substance Use Services into Health Care Settings: An Issue Brief on Lessons Learned and Challenges Ahead,“ summarizes the results of the 2010 Forum on Integration, a conference hosted by TRI in April. (Source: Join Together, 10/19/10)