www.alkoholpolitik.ch

In the fire district that I currently live in, there’s an issue that drives me up the wall. They serve Beer in the Stations, there is an open wet bar, that the Firefighters can use anytime they please. I’ve heard from a few FF’s that I met, they do it, but have rules about going on the calls. One certain rule is, they wont be able to respond, if they are „TOO DRUNK“ to drive. I have also seen them on calls, oddly enough, they were „Toasted“ in my opinion, they broke down the wrong door in a neighboring building,, let me rephrase that, 5 doors were torn apart, even after I told them the fire was over here. I was also told, the drinking will stay, it’s supported by a board of „The old guys“, they are all retired volly’s, the upper command staff take part, so who do you talk now. My question is, how many other departments allow this type of behavior. (Source: Google Alcohol News, 12/28/10) firefighternation.com, 12/28/10

Center for youth education (CEM) and its partner organization for drug abuse prevention – LINK started a two year long project called „Alcohol free lifestyle“. The level of alcohol consumption among minors in Bosnia and Herzegovina is becoming alarming! The research made by the Institute for Public health of Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina during 2009 shows that out of 2970 questioned students, from the elementary and high schools, 61% of them consume alcohol. 50% of those drink mostly beer, 30% wine and 20% spirits. 51 % of them claimed that they can easily get alcohol and 12% of them said that they started drinking before they were 12 years old. (Source: Active Newsletter December 2010)

..a prospective cohort study with echocardiography evaluation.
Abstract: Aims With increasing socioeconomic disparity in cardiovascular risk factors, there is a need to assess the role of socioeconomic factors in chronic heart failure (CHF) and to what extent this is caused by modifiable risk factors.
Conclusion: In this cohort study, the level of education was associated with cardiac dysfunction and predicted future hospital admission for CHF. Only a minor part of the excess risk was mediated through traditional cardiovascular risk factors. Strategies to reduce this inequality should be strengthened. (Source: aerzteblatt.de, 9.12.10) eurheartj.oxfordjournals.org, 12/08/10

This report contains alcohol-related information collected in all twenty-three counties in Wyoming during a twelve-month time period (July 1, 2009 through June 30, 2010) by the Wyoming Association of Sheriffs and Chiefs of Police. Information was collected from a total of 18,863 persons who were arrested and subsequently detained in a county detention facility. The alcohol-related arrest data contained in this report provides a detailed, statistical picture of the impact of alcohol abuse on crime in Wyoming. (Source: Alcohol Reports, 12/26/10) wascop.com (pdf)

Government, producers, law enforcement, sellers and parents all have a role to play in bringing about a better drinking culture in this country, writes Tim Salt from the alcohol industry.
Another year, another silly season. Over the past few weeks we have seen the inevitable reports of people getting drunk and behaving badly. During schoolies week it was images of teenagers celebrating the end of school by drinking too much. And on the eve of the new year, we will no doubt see more reports of people drinking to excess and creating a headache for society. Inevitably, anti-alcohol groups have responded as they always do – by attacking the product rather than the behaviour. … (Source: Alcohol Reports, 12/26/10) theage.com.au, 12/26/10 Comment: The alcohol industry complaints that its self regulation doesn’t work. It cannot understand that better prevention measures are needed, e.g. the proposals of the World Health Organization’s global alcohol strategy. We have now the result of decades of alcohol marketing.

A 30 year cohort study.
Smoking and consuming alcohol are both related to increased mortality risk. Their combined effects on cause-specific mortality were investigated in a prospective cohort study.
Conclusions
Smoking and drinking 15+ units/week was the riskiest behaviour for all causes of death. (Source: BMC Public Health 2010, 10:789doi:10.1186/1471-2458-10-789, 24 December 2010)

Marin Institute staffers recently returned from the Alcohol Policy 15 conference, where they gave several presentations on Big Alcohol industry tactics. These presentations are now available to the public.

The Century Council – that venerable industry front group that purportedly aims to curb drunk driving and underage drinking – has stumped us this time with its holiday-themed responsibility ploy. It’s called the “Snowman Stumble,” an online game apparently intended to teach people about alcohol impairment. In this time-waster, the Century Council wants you to control a snowman walking home from a holiday party, and see how far you can get before the snowman falls over. Source: Marin Institute, 12/21/10)

Males and females show different patterns of cognitive impairment when blood alcohol concentrations (BACs) are high. To investigate whether gender differences persist at low BACs, cognitive impairment was tested in 21 participants (11 female, 10 male) using a brief computerized perceptual judgment task that provides error rate and response time data. … Males and females displayed a trend toward slower responses and more errors, even when mildly intoxicated. These data indicate that cognitive function can be impaired at BACs that are below the legal limit for driving in most countries. (Source: Alcohol Reports, 12/22/10)

The New Zealand e-SBINZ trials. The trial will provide information on the effectiveness of e-SBI in reducing hazardous drinking across diverse university student populations with separate effect estimates for Maori and non-Maori students. Trial registration: Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ANZCTR) ACTRN12610000279022. (Source: BMC, biomedcentral.com, 12/22/10)