www.alkoholpolitik.ch

– 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)

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)

Six DeKalb County firefighters have been disciplined in an alcohol investigation. Four of the firefighters have been demoted, including an assistant chief.
Channel 2’s Jodie Fleischer attended a Tuesday news conference where acting Fire Chief Eddie O’Brien made the announcement.
„They didn’t just let me down. They let everybody down,“ O’Brien said. „They know they did wrong.“
As Channel 2 Action was first to report, several firefighters were accused of showing up to Fire Station 24 drunk during the Jan. 11 snowstorm. The group included fire apparatus operator …. The group went drinking at Twains Billiards and Tap in Decatur, according to the Fire Department’s investigation. That night, they chose to sleep at the station on Redan Road instead of driving on icy roads for their shift the next day. (Source: Google Alcohol News, 02/16/11) wsbtv.com, 02/16/11

Drinking alcohol may help put you to sleep, but as the night wears on—and the booze wears off—you may find yourself tossing and turning. This may be especially true if you’re a woman, according to a new study.
Women who go to bed tipsy sleep much less soundly than men who have the same blood-alcohol content (BAC), the study found. Whereas alcohol had only a minor impact on men’s sleep, the female study participants slept more fitfully and for less time after a night of drinking than they did when they were sober. (Source: Google Alcohol News, 02/16/11) news.health.com, 02/15/11

For the first time, delegations from all 193 Member States of World Health Organization (WHO) reached consensus at the World Health Assembly on a global strategy to confront the harmful use of alcohol. Since 2008, WHO has been in the process of drafting a global strategy to reduce the harmful use of alcohol. On Friday 21 May 2010 the Sixty-third session of the World Health Assembly adopted by consensus resolution WHA63.13, which endorses the global strategy. (Source: WHO) Comment: Now the final text is available here. (pdf)

The State Workforce System.
The growing financial cost of drug and alcohol abuse puts tremendous pressure on every social sector.
The present report, part of a larger Family Funding Study project, is the fifth and last in the series that examines the cost of drug and alcohol abuse to West Virginia’s criminal justice, healthcare, education, welfare, and workforce systems. A comprehensive report, incorporating estimates from all these sectors, will be produced at the end of this project. (Source: Alcohol Reports, 02/15/11)

More people drink themselves to death in northwest New Mexico than anywhere else in the state, which is one of the worst states in the country in terms of alcohol-related deaths per capita.
Three counties in northwest New Mexico — San Juan, McKinley and Rio Arriba — have the highest concentration in the state of people who died from various alcohol-related issues from 2007 through 2009, according to reports recently published by the New Mexico Health Department. … (Source: Alcohol Reports, 02/16/11)

Top Income Tax Rate Proposed To 6.7 Percent…
In one of the largest and most wide-ranging tax increases in Connecticut history, taxes on income, cigarettes, alcohol, gasoline, and estates would all increase under Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s budget proposal to be unveiled Wednesday.
… Taxes will increase on virtually all taxable items. The gasoline tax would rise by 3 cents per gallon, while the cigarette tax would increase by 40 cents per pack to $3.40. All alcohol taxes would increase, which Malloy says would amount to pennies on a six-pack of beer. (Source: Google Alcohol News, 02/15/11) blogs.courant.com, 02/14/11 Comment: Why the alcohol tax is so small?

..invest to save says Alcohol Concern amidst rising hospital admissions.
Alcohol-related hospital admissions could hit 1.5 million a year by 2015 if further investment in alcohol is not prioritised, say Alcohol Concern. The charity calls for increased investment as the rising trend of alcohol-related hospital admissions could bring to the cost of alcohol to the NHS to £3.7 billion per year.
Read the report ‚Making alcohol a health prority: opportunities to reduce alcohol harms and rising costs‘ [pdf] An Alcohol Concern press release