www.alkoholpolitik.ch

Many of the efforts associated with Alcohol Awareness Month each April are targeted at preventing underage drinking, especially during the prom and graduation celebration season. But there are other groups that are also practicing harmful alcohol consumption but may not be aware of the risks.
Prevention efforts have been increased around prom night events and graduation parties since the first Alcohol Awareness Month in 1987, but prevention efforts are also targeted at the following demographic groups. … (Source: alcoholism.about.com, 04/05/11)

The Century Council Kicks Off Alcohol Awareness Month By Releasing Ask, Listen, Learn PSAs with 23 Attorneys General.
Timed with April’s designation as Alcohol Awareness Month, The Century Council teamed up with 23 Attorneys General from around the country to release a fun and innovative Ask, Listen, Learn: Kids and Alcohol Don’t Mix Public Service Announcement (PSA). In the animated and radio PSAs Attorneys General encourage kids to say ‚YES‘ to a healthy lifestyle and ‚NO‘ to underage drinking. The PSAs will begin airing around the country this month. (Source: Google Alcohol News, 04/05/11) trading-house.net, 04/04/11

Excessive alcohol use is the third leading preventable cause of death in the United States (1) and was responsible for approximately 79,000 deaths and 2.3 million years of potential life lost (YPLL) in the United States each year during 2001–2005.* Binge drinking, … was responsible for more than half of these deaths and for two thirds of YPLL . More than half of alcohol consumed by adults in the United States is in the form of binge drinks. Healthy People 2010 (HP2010) (objective no. 26-11c) called for reducing the prevalence of binge drinking among adults . An overarching national health goal is to eliminate health disparities among different segments of the population. .. (Source: Google Alcohol News, 03/26/11) National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, CDC cdc.gov, 01/14/11

SUFFOLK, Va. (WAVY) – Five students from Kings Fork Middle School were suspended Friday and recommended for expulsion after officials say they violated the school system’s alcohol policy. The students involved were three 7th Graders and two 8th Graders.
According to a school spokesperson, the incident involving alcohol took place Friday morning as the students were riding on a school bus on their way to school.
After arriving at school, one of the students became sick and went to the Nurse’s Office. That student was transported by ambulance to the emergency room at Obici Hospital. (Source: Google Alcohol News, 03/26/11) fox43tv.com, 03/25/11

Following the continued proliferation of alcohol advertising in social and traditional media outlets, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently announced plans to conduct another review of the effectiveness of the alcohol industry’s self-regulation of its own advertising campaigns. As noted in the Marin Institute’s 2008 report „Why Big Alcohol Can’t Police Itself: A Review of Self-Regulation in the Distilled Spirits Industry,“ the industry’s voluntary guidelines fail to protect underage youth from exposure to alcohol advertising. The FTC is currently seeking public comment until April 26, 2011 on the companies‘ compliance with ad placement provisions; status of third-party review of complaints; and industry data-collection practices. We encourage everyone concerned about the effects of alcohol advertising to submit comments here. Marin Institute will make our own comments available, so check back. (Source: Marin Institute Newsletter, 03/23/11)

Twelve York County convenience stores are no stranger to selling alcohol to underage drinkers; two Fort Mill and one Tega Cay convenience store also have allowed some underage drinkers to purchase alcohol, records show.
For those illegal sales, each of those stores failed recent compliance checks conducted by York County law enforcement. Topping the list with three violations is a Fort Mill convenience stop.
“Our highest violator is Fairway Fuel,” Corree Carelock, prevention director of Rock Hill’s Keystone Substance Services, said of the convenience store located at 1290 Tom Hall St. (Source: Google Alcohol News, 03/17/11) heraldonline.com, 03/16/11

An intriguing new study by European researchers has found that teen girls aged around 16 years are hitting the bottle more frequently than their male counterparts.
Researchers at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm found that 80 percent of all 15- to 16-year-olds drink regularly, usually downing at least five units at once, the Daily Mail reports.
Over the last decade, binge drinking habits have greatly increased among adolescent girls, and though they consume less than boys, they get drunk more often than boys do. …
“We also see that this drinking is strongly related to problems such as fights, accidents, and unwanted sexual relations.” (Source: Alcohol Reports, 03/14/11) themedguru.com, 03/10/11 Comment: The reason is the marketing of alcopops and that governments reacted too late.

The government is waging war on the alarming increase in the abuse of alcohol and drugs, and has warned of stricter legislation – including raising the legal age for alcohol consumption from 18 to 21.
In a hard-hitting statement, Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini said yesterday that the devastating effects of alcohol abuse had spurred the government to „prioritise this as a matter of urgency“.
„Alcohol and substance abuse is destroying families and the fabric of society. The shocking reality of the situation has strengthened our resolve to tackle the problem head-on,“ Dlamini told The Times. (Source: Alcohol Reports, 03/12/11) timeslive.co.za, 03/11/11 Comment: Good luck, my beloved South Africa. You have the political power to succeed. But do it without the alcohol industry! Take the WHO Global Alcohol Strategy.

ll residential colleges held mandatory meetings on Monday night to discuss each college’s response to the recent campus-wide moratorium on hard alcohol and to inform students about the circumstances that led up to the administrative action.
Each college was given the freedom to specify its own enforcement policies, definition of a private party and other aspects of moratorium that were mentioned in the letter from Dean of Undergraduates John Hutchinson on Feb. 24. (Source: Google Alcohol News, 03/11/11) media.www.ricethresher.org, 03/11/11

It may seem like binge drinking is just a fact of college life, but a number of institutions of higher-education are proving otherwise. Survey data show notable drops in student binge drinking at several colleges and universities, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported Feb. 16. For example:
* Alcohol-related violations dropped 3.7 percent at North Dakota State University in Fargo, N.D. over two years.
* Between 2007 and 2009, „problem drinking“ fell 12 percent at the University of Pittsburgh.
* The number of Purdue students who engaged in binge drinking sank from 48 percent in 2006 to 37.3 percent in 2009.
* Frostburg State University in Maryland saw binge drinking plummet 27% over the past decade. … (Source: Join Together, 03/07/11) with our Online-Comment: It is always better to invest in prevention instead of paying for negative results. If the alcohol free offers are a success, other students will try too.