www.alkoholpolitik.ch

Police Find 3 Businesses Selling Alcohol To Minors
Fayetteville police said that during their recent random alcohol compliance checks, three business were found to be non-compliant. On Feb. 16, the Fayetteville Police Department conducted random compliance checks of 18 businesses with alcohol permits in Fayetteville. (Source: Google Alcohol News, 02/18/11) 4029tv.com

…but momentum must last.
From Norway to Turkey have Active members worked for raising awareness about the problems that children and young people have to grow up in families with alcohol addicted parents.
“We’ve been on the streets, have established co operations, been in contact with both politicians and the media and we’ve occupied the cyberspace,” says Andrea Lavesson, President of Active – sobriety, friendship and peace, and continues: “We need this momentum that Active and many, many other organizations created all over Europe to continue and grow because one week is not enough to bring about change. 9 Million children in the EU alone long for change and we need NGOs, authorities and the media and their long-term commitment to make that happen.” … Source: Active press release, 02/18/11)

In 2010 the World Health Assembly endorsed the Global strategy to reduce the harmful use of alcohol. A global network of WHO national counterparts is established to ensure effective collaboration and consultations with Member States on implementing the global strategy.
The WHO Secretariat was hosting the first meeting of this global network with the aim of discussing and elaborating implementation mechanisms and plans for the strategy on 8-11 February 2011 in Geneva.
Specific objectives of the meeting are to:
* inaugurate the global network of WHO national counterparts for implementation of the global
strategy to reduce the harmful use of alcohol;
* establish the working mechanisms and plans for the global network;
* elaborate priority areas and implementation plans for reducing the harmful use of alcohol at the global level;
* discuss priority areas and plans for implementing the global strategy at the regional level;
* discuss monitoring and reporting on the implementation of the global strategy at different levels;
* launch the Global status report on alcohol and health 2011. (Source: WHO)

The government’s „responsibility“ deal on alcohol looks likely to fall apart as health experts, angered by the limited concessions required of the drinks industry, consider walking away from the table.
The deal, between the industry, the government and health experts – including the chiefs of groups such as Alcohol Concern and the British Liver Trust, as well as senior doctors working on alcohol-related health problems – was billed, when launched last summer, as a fresh, collaborative approach to a serious public health problem. … (Source: Alcohol Reports, 02/17/11) guardian.co.uk, 02/17/11 Comment: This could be foreseen. Some years ago, the World Health Organization declared, that alcohol prevention should be planned without the help of the alcohol industry. The industry only agrees with measures which will not reduce their profits. Such discussions are a waste of time and manpower an give the industry a moral acceptance.

– many get alcohol from family or home.
A new study by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) indicates that 5.9 percent of adolescents aged 12 to 14 drank alcohol in the past month and that the vast majority of them (93.4 percent) received their alcohol for free the last time they drank. About 317,000 (44.8 percent) 12 to 14 year olds who drank in the past month received their alcohol for free from their family or at home. This includes 15.7 percent (or an estimated 111,000) who were provided alcohol for free by their parents or guardians. (Source: Alcohol Reports, 02/17/11)

Das sunnitische Königshaus in Bahrain setzt auf Reformen, nicht zuletzt, um sich im Westen beliebt zu machen. Die mehrheitlich schiitische Bevölkerung fühlt sich aber weiterhin diskriminiert. … Der Tourismus boomt, vor allem aus umliegenden arabischen Ländern. Besonders beliebt ist Bahrain bei den benachbarten Saudis. Alkohol, Frauen, alles, was im strengreligiösen Saudiarabien verboten ist, ist für die Saudis im nur wenige Kilometer entfernten Bahrain erhältlich. Die Möglichkeit, ausgelassen zu feiern, ist aber auch Zündstoff für die konservativen Kräfte in Bahrain. (Quelle: Tages-Anzeiger, 17.02.11) Kommentar: Der Artikelschreiber ist sich wahrscheinlich nicht bewuss, dass Alkohol und Frauenstimmrecht auch in Europa und Amerika sehr eng miteinander verbunden waren. Durch den Kampf gegen die Alkoholnot haben die Suffragetten in England und den USA um die Jahrhundertwende 19./20. Jh. den Frauen das Stimmrecht erstritten. Die Schweizer Frauen hatten keine Chance, sie mussten bis 1970 warten, weil die Liberalen ein Alkoholgesetz einführten, das liess die Frauen leer laufen. Die heutigen „Liberalen“ gehören zu den stärksten Bremsern bei der Alkoholprävention.

A widely used index for assessing adolescent drinking-related problems has been found to be effective at predicting the future alcohol dependence of teen-age drinkers, according to an Indiana University study which also found that the association was stronger for adolescent female drinkers.
The federally funded study, available now online in advance of print in the journal „Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research,“ involved 597 Finnish twins — 300 male and 297 female — who were assessed at ages 18 and 25. (Source: Medical News Today, 02/16/11)

Our objective was to examine whether components of the neighborhood alcohol environment—liquor store, on-premise outlet, convenience store, and supermarket densities—are positively associated with at-risk alcohol consumption among African-American drinkers.
A multilevel cross-sectional sample of 321 African-American women and men ages 21 to 65 years recruited from April 2002 to May 2003 from three community-based healthcare clinics in New Orleans, Louisiana, was studied.
The alcohol environment had a significant impact on at-risk alcohol consumption among African-American drinkers, specifically liquor store density …Furthermore, the influence of the alcohol environment was much stronger for African-American female drinkers….
Treatment and prevention programs should take into account the physical environment, and the concentration of outlets in minority neighborhoods must be addressed as it poses potential health risks to the residents of these neighborhoods. (Source: Alcohol Reports, 02/17/11)

Ein Gläschen zur Entspannung – Forscher warnen: Besonders gut qualifizierte Frauen haben ein hohes Risiko, zu oft zur Flasche zu greifen.
Ein Sekt im Büro, ein Glas Wein nach der Arbeit: Alkohol zu trinken, gilt vielen als selbstverständlich. Immer häufiger sind es nach Einschätzung von Wissenschaftlern der Universität Hannover dabei Frauen, die zum Glas greifen. Gefährdet seien nicht zuletzt hoch qualifizierte Arbeitnehmerinnen, die im Job unter besonderem Druck stehen und dann das Gefühl haben, abends «ein Glas» zu brauchen. Häufig unterschätzten sie allerdings die Gefahr, die auch mit einem vergleichsweise geringen Alkoholkonsum verbunden ist, sagte Anja Wartmann vom Institut für interdisziplinäre Arbeitswissenschaft der Universität. (Quelle: Google Alkohol News, 16.02.11) welt.de, 16.02.11

Alkohol als Einschlafhilfe zu nutzen, ist eine schlechte Idee: Zwar kommt der Schlaf schneller, doch über die Nacht drohen unfreiwillige Wachphasen. Wie Forscher jetzt ermittelt haben, trifft der Effekt Frauen besonders stark.
Nach einem Trinkgelage schlafen Frauen deutlich schlechter als Männer, haben US-Forscher entdeckt. Ein Rausch vertieft zwar anfangs den Schlaf und erleichtert das Einschlafen. In der zweiten Hälfte der Schlafphase ist die Schlafqualität allerdings beeinträchtigt, wobei Frauen den Ergebnissen zufolge häufiger unter Wachphasen und einer insgesamt schlechteren Schlafqualität leiden als Männer. Die Ursache sei vermutlich die unterschiedliche Art, wie der Stoffwechsel der beiden Geschlechter den Alkohol abbaue, spekulieren die Wissenschaftler im Fachmagazin „Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research“. (Quelle: spiegel.de, 16.02.11)