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Fueled largely by an increase in distilled spirits advertising on cable television, the growth rate in youths‘ exposure to televised alcohol ads is outpacing that for adults, according to a Dec. 13 news release from the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth (CAMY) at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
The report by the center indicated that exposure of youths 12 to 20 to alcohol ads on U.S. television increased 71 percent from 2001 to 2009.
The average TV-watching youth saw 366 alcohol ads in 2009.
„One a day is great for vitamins but not for young people being exposed to alcohol advertising,“ said CAMY director David H. Jernigan, Ph.D.
The center said that the latest numbers were an indication of the failure of voluntary marketing standards in the alcohol industry, under which companies place ads in programming with a youth audience no higher than 30 percent. The report found that 13 percent of youths‘ exposure to alcohol ads last year occurred during programming with more than a 30 percent youth audience. (Source: Join Together, 12/20/10)

Polk County, Fla.’s County Commission will ask state legislators to allow it to seek a 1 percent tax on retail alcohol sales to pay for substance abuse treatment and related services.
News Chief reported Dec. 16 that the Polk County Commission is modeling its effort after an initiative in Miami-Dade County, where commissioners won legislative approval to pursue a local option food and beverage tax to finance services for the homeless, including drug and alcohol treatment. Polk County would like an alcohol tax to fund substance use treatment services for all residents in need. (Source: Join Together, 12/20/10)

Excessive alcohol consumption has a huge hidden cost to Victorian society, Premier Ted Baillieu said today.
Visiting the Alfred Hospital Emergency and Trauma Centre with Minister for Mental Health Mary Wooldridge, Mr Baillieu said the Coalition Government’s Operation Unite campaign to be launched this weekend will highlight the dangers of over-consumption of alcohol.
Operation Unite will stage a weekend of action by police on 17 and 18 December across Australia and New Zealand to reduce alcohol misuse and related threats to public safety and order. (Source: Google Alcohol News, 12/20/10) ausfoodnews.com, 12/20/10 our Online-Comment: It sounds nice, those words for a stressed audience. But asking for awareness is not enough. It needs an alcohol policy which implements the global alcohol strategy of the WHO (World Health Organisation) in order to reduce alcohol consumption in general. This is the duty of politicians and governments.

Alcohol abuse among Native Americans has lead to many woes for these tribal nations. Many tribes have banned alcohol on their reservations, but there is much controversy over what is best for these people.
Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, on the border between South Dakota and Nebraska, has been wrestling with their alcohol ban for decades. This reservation was created in 1889, but the prohibition of alcohol sales to American Indians dates back to 1832. Even though it has been an alcohol free reservation since its origin, the tribe has a huge alcohol problem. Four out of every five families in this county have an alcoholic member, and the alcoholism has severe effects here. Unemployment is at 80%, it is the second poorest county in the nation, and life expectancy is the second lowest in the whole Northern Hemisphere. 90% of adult trials on this reservation are directly related to alcohol. Police are swamped with enforcing the alcohol ban and dealing with the mess of those that break the law. (Source: Google Alcohol News, 12/19/10) bloghealthwolrd.blogspot.com, 12/17/10

The number of University of Missouri-Columbia students referred for suspected alcohol violations doubled from 2008 to 2009.
But officials say the numbers are known to fluctuate, and part of the increase could stem from better reporting on campus.
The latest report shows the number of students referred on suspicion of violating alcohol policies went from 430 in 2008, to 883 in 2009. In 2007, 631 students were referred. (Source: Google Alcohol News, 12/19/10) kmox.cbslocal.com, 12/18/10

…By Explaining The Danger Of Alcohol Poisoning
Most of us know a friend, co-worker or relative who passed out at a holiday party. Never assume they are not in danger, especially if it is a teenager, according to the Science Inside Alcohol Project of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).
Many teens don’t know their capacity for alcohol, specialists say, and that can put them at risk for alcohol poisoning. Nearly one million high school students nationwide binge drink, which means consuming four to five drinks in a two-hour period, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA). Binge drinking can lead to alcohol poisoning. (Source: Medical News Today, 12/19/10)

Substance abuse and addiction have a profound impact on all sectors of society. They are major contributors to a wide range of health and social problems, including domestic violence, child abuse and neglect, crime, chronic health problems, increased mortality, higher healthcare costs, and lost productivity.
The real economic impact of substance abuse is difficult to quantify empirically because there are both direct and indirect consequences…. According to our analysis, a total of $7.3 billion in allocations can be attributed to substance abuse; representing a per-capita share of $1,145. Most of Indiana’s funding is allocated to address the consequences of alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use rather than to prevent or reduce its occurrence.
For every dollar Indiana spends on services dealing directly or indirectly with substance use, 66 cents are used for healthcare, while only 1 cent pays for prevention/intervention initiatives. (Source: Alcohol Reports, 12/17/10)

Raising prices on alcohol and tobacco products through taxation is a proven strategy to stem their respective use. As nearly 25% of the U.S. population uses alcohol and cigarettes concurrently, it is important to know whether increasing cigarette prices may impact alcohol use–a ‘cross-price effect.‘
This study examines the effects of changes in state cigarette prices on current, binge, and heavy drinking patterns among demographic groups. Six years of cross sectional data are pooled from the 2001-2006 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System surveys (BRFSS), a nationally representative household telephone survey conducted annually with random samples of adults 18 years of age and older.
Preliminary findings indicate that each $1 increase in cigarette price is associated with an 8% increase in the predicted odds of drinking in the past month (p< .05) and a 7% increase in heavy drinking (p<.1). For binge drinking there was no significant effect in preliminary analyses. ... Source: Alcohol Reports, 12/17/10)

11/10/2011 9:00 am – 12/10/2011 5:00 pm http://www.parpa.pl
The State Agency for Prevention of Alcohol Related Problems is organising an expert conference which will continue on the themes touched upon at the Swedish Presidency Expert Conference. It will be an opportunity to discuss the future of the Alcohol Strategy among policy makers at European, national and municipality levels as well as scientist, public health experts and representatives of the civil society.
The main themes of the conference will include: – alcohol and cancer – alcohol and heart disease – alcohol and liver – alcohol and violence – economic aspect of alcohol related harm
Conference will focus on evidence based policy recommendations and recent research findings. (Source: Eurocare)

Multiple studies have shown that risk for lifetime alcohol dependence is higher in those who initiated drinking at an earlier age; however, few studies have examined this relationship by sex and race subgroups.
The purpose of this study is to investigate sex and race differences in age at first drink and development of alcohol dependence. This study uses data from Wave I of the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC), a nationally representative sample of 43,093 adults. Those meeting DSM-IV criteria for lifetime alcohol dependence (12.5%) were included in the current analyses. Linear regression was used to compare men and women and Whites, Blacks, and Hispanics on ages at first drink and onset of dependence. (Source: Alcohol Reports, 12/17/10)