www.alkoholpolitik.ch

Nicola Sturgeon is following the best medical advice in seeking a minimum unit price for alcohol. Improving Scotland’s unhappy association with booze should be based on that, not on petty party politics, writes Alan Cochrane. (Source: Google Alcohol News, 11/10/10) telegraph.co.uk, 11/10/10

A study conducted in New Zealand has found that a resident’s risk of binge drinking and alcohol-related harms increases with each alcohol-selling outlet located within convenient walking distance of home, the University of Otago reported Oct. 1.
University researchers surveyed 1,925 adults in 2007 on their alcohol use and then compared the results with mapping of all outlets where alcohol is sold, such as supermarkets and convenience stores. Jennie Connor, Ph.D., of the university’s Department of Preventive and Social Medicine, reported that for every take-home („off-license“) alcohol outlet within 1 kilometer, a person’s risk for binge drinking increased by about 4 percent. (Source: Join Together, 11/05/10)

The Michigan Liquor Control Commission (LCC) has banned the sale of alcoholic energy drinks, becoming the first state in the nation to do so.
The commission said in a Nov. 3 news release that they „are rescinding approval of all alcoholic energy drinks,“ and, after official notification, distributors will have 30 days to pull the drinks from their shelves.
The commissioners‘ actions come a week after the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board’s Oct. 27 letter asking beer distributors to voluntarily pull the high-alcohol, high-caffeine pre-mixed drinks from Penn. markets. (Source: Join Together, 11/04/10)

Citing numerous cases of alcohol poisoning in states across the country, the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board has formally asked the state’s 17,000 licensed beer distributors to stop selling high-alcohol energy drinks that are popular among college students. (Source: Join Together, 11/04/10)

Hospital_Booze. As competition among hospitals stiffens, some institutions are resorting to offering patients a few too many comforts of home— or of their local bar. Despite being known to weaken the immune system and prolong illness, hospitals are starting to serve patients alcohol in hopes of wooing more business.
While these hospitals purportedly rely on physician approval, the potential for abuse is staggering. Susan Levin, the director of nutrition education at the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, called the practice ‘mind-boggling.’“When you consider amount of medications people are on in hospitals — it’s a dangerous system to begin with before you even start mixing alcohol into the cocktail,“ she noted in an interview with NPR.
Considering that so many patients are in the hospital in the first place due to alcohol-related problems, this idea seems especially twisted. The healthcare costs from alcohol consumption alone have been estimated to more than $26 billion dollars, or $686 for every person living in America. With all that’s known about alcohol and health, it is shocking that hospitals are willing to put their patients at risk just for a few extra dollars. (Source: Marin Institute, 11/03/10)

We are, unfortunately, used to seeing booze ads during sports. (Baseball: the nation’s pasttime. Alcohol: the nation’s poison?) And, come October, we’re used to seeing baseball players celebrate playoff series‘ wins with televised champagne sprays.
So, this playoff season when the Texas Rangers won the American League Divisional Series, and then the A.L. Championship Series (ALCS), the Ale of choice — Ginger Ale — was a welcome surprise.
The Rangers gave dual celebrations — one nonalcoholic — out of respect for their ALCS MVP center-fielder Josh Hamilton, who is sober and in ongoing recovery. They also gave a separate champagne party for players. (Source: Join Together, 11/02/10)

Alcohol is the most damaging drug to the drinker and others overall, heroin and crack are the second and third most harmful, Professor David Nutt and colleagues wrote in the medical journal The Lancet today. When all factors related to self harm and harm to others are considered, alcohol comes out top. The authors explain that drugs, including tobacco products and alcohol are major contributors to damage to individuals as well as society as a whole.
The harms that are caused by drugs need to be comprehensively assessed so that policy makers can be properly advised regarding health, social care and policing, the authors write; not an easy undertaking because drugs can cause damage in so many different ways. (Source: Medical News Today, 11/1/10) our online-comment: For many decades alcohol has been called the socio-medical problem No.1. This study is just an additional piece of proof. But a very valuable one, as it comes in a time when governments are not willing to implement the new alcohol strategy of the World Health Organization (May 2010), even if they signed it, because they are under permanent pressure of the global alcohol industry. This sort of corruption costs human tragedies and lives every day and the people is not able to protest as it is not informed.
(see press release by Active, 11/03/10)

Hospital figures show 32% increase in four years with 8,799 under-18s given specialist help last year. Growing numbers of children are ending up in hospital because they have drunk so much, with more girls needing treatment than boys, according to new NHS figures. Under-18s have an increasingly damaging relationship with tens of thousands every year being attended to by ambulance crews, treated in A&E or admitted overnight, according to a report from the charity Alcohol Concern.The number of underage drinkers admitted to hospital in England rose by 32% between 2003 and 2007, from around 11,000 in 2003 to more than 14,000 in 2007, NHS hospital records show. A total of 92,220 children and young people under 18 were admitted to hospital between 2002 and 2009 – or 36 under-18s a day. … (Source: Harvard World Health News, 10/28/10) guardian.co.uk, 10/23/10

What the heck is „drunkorexia?“ That’s when you cut down on food calories and replace them with alcohol, a practice that some college students engage in, according to the Denver Post.
Experts don’t like the term „drunkorexia“ much, but seem resigned to it: Dr. Kenneth L. Weiner, who directs Denver’s Eating Recovery Center, said, „The term ‚drunkorexia‘ is not my favorite, but as it brings awareness to the problem, it’s probably fine.“ (Source: Join Together, 10/26/10)

The revelation this week that sugary, high-alcohol energy drinks helped send nine Washington state college freshmen to the hospital after an off-campus party has renewed public attention on the hazards of the beverages. Several states have enacted or are considering limits or bans on the drinks, and at least two universities have banned them from campus while the Food and Drug Administration reviews their safety. (Source: Google Alcohol News, 27.10.10) The Washington Post/quedit.com, 10/27/10
Tell the head of the FDA, Commissioner Margaret Hamburg (a medical doctor), and her boss, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius that it’s time to ban these products once and for all.
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