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Important informations on alcohol politics. Issued June 19, 2011 Content:
News From Eurocare Members – News From the EU – News From the WHO – News from across Europe – News From Around the World – Upcoming events – Questions from MEPs

After 21 years of valuable service to Eurocare, Dr. Michel Craplet from ANPAA resigned from his post as Chairman of the organization. The former vice Chairman of Eurocare, Ms. Tiziana Codenotti was elected to be the new president. The General Assembly elected as well a new Board. … (Source: Eurocare Newsletter May – June 2011)

Budapest, Hungary, June 16, 2011- The European Union is the heaviest drinking region in the world. Therefore, in Europe we suffer from the highest alcohol related problems. It is estimated that 58 million adults in the EU drink at risky levels, and 23 million are alcohol addicted. Alcohol constitutes the primary risk factor for accidents, injuries and violence. Approximately half of the deaths attributable to alcohol are from injuries.
This issue is being addressed at the 3rd European injury prevention conference, organised by EuroSafe in cooperation with the Hungarian Presidency of the European Council. Today stakeholders in the prevention of accidents and injuries from Europe and other continents meet in Budapest to exchange, debate and discuss the latest results in injury research, policies and practices. … (Source: Eurocare, Active Press Release, 06/16/11)

The latest survey of Ontario adults from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) shows increasing rates of daily drinking and cannabis use and high levels of psychological distress. The results of the 2009 CAMH Monitor survey, the longest running survey tracking mental health and addiction indicators among adults in Ontario, were published today.
The proportion of adults reporting daily drinking increased from 5.3% in 2002 to over 9% in 2009. The average number of drinks consumed weekly among drinkers has also increased from 3 drinks to 4.6 drinks, and the proportion of adults exceeding low-risk drinking guidelines remains at elevated levels (22%). However, there were also some encouraging findings: there was a significant decline in binge drinking from 12.6% in 2006 to 7.1% in 2009, and the decline was evident especially among young adults, from 24% to 11.5%. (Source: Alcohol Reports, 06/13/11)

Number 1 / 2011 (Alcohol Reports, 06/13/11)
Alcohol policy is becoming a truly global issue (PDF)
The rise of the total abstinence model. Recommendations regarding alcohol use during pregnancy in Finland and Denmark (PDF)
The effects of missing data when surveying alcohol habits (PDF)
Alcohol-related mishaps on weekends in Reykjavík (PDF)
A window to alcohol problems and politics in Africa. Kettil Bruun Society Meeting in Uganda (PDF)

Number 2 / 2011 (Alcohol Reports, 06/13/11)
In control and out of control. The discourse on intoxication among young Finnish women in the 1980s and 2000s (PDF)
Risky drinking of alcohol in Sweden: A randomized population survey comparing web- and paper-based self-reports (PDF)
The Drinking Habit Survey revival (PDF)

More international informations. (Source: Alcohol Reports, 06/13/11)

During the last ten years a number of doctoral dissertations and other thorough studies of alcohol and drug treatment organisations, ideas and innovations have been published in the Nordic countries. They have been produced within historical or social science frameworks, covering various periods of the last 120 years and both alcohol and drug treatment. Most of them are written in the Scandinavian languages or Finnish and as a consequence are not accessible to an international audience. This fact was the first reason behind this book: there was a body of new Nordic research on the history of treatment that has produced new knowledge about the system and that could merit an international audience. … (Source: Alcohol Reports, 06/11/11)

A consultation on minimum pricing and other options for Northern Ireland is currently open.
Northern Ireland’s Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety are seeking views on setting a minimum price per unit of alcohol. A press release and BBC report announced the move earlier this year.
The survey „forms part of the stakeholder consultation process on minimum pricing of alcohol in Northern Ireland and provides an opportunity for comment on plans to crack down on the availability of cheap alcohol.“ It also includes questions on:
* banning ‚below-cost‘ selling of alcohol
* banning sale of alcohol below level of Duty and VAT
* increasing taxation to address the harms of problem drinking
* considerations in relation to introducing a social responsibility levy
Views are sought from everyone. The submission period closes on 26 June 2011. (Source: Alcohol Policy UK, 06/09/11)

The Bishop of Stafford has criticised the government for „doing little“ to prevent alcohol abuse. The Rt Rev Geoff Annas has described alcohol misuse as „one of the major sins of our time“. Writing in a pastoral letter, published in parish magazines across the Diocese of Lichfield, he called for a „seismic shift“ in attitudes towards drinking. The government has said it is tackling alcohol-related crime „at its source“ through a variety of measures.
He said charities were left to tackle the effects of „this drug abuse“, with government action not going far enough.
In the letter, Mr Annas said: „One definition of ’sin‘ is anything that comes between us and God and makes us less than the person God created us to be.
„Alcohol abuse is one of the major ’sins‘ of our time – and it is one that governments do very little to prevent.
„Instead, it is left to amazing organisations like Alcoholics Anonymous or in the inspirational O’Connor Gateway Charitable Trust, of which I am proud to be a trustee, to tackle the effects of this drug abuse.“ … (Source: Alcohol Reports, 06/07/11) bbc.co.uk, 06/01/11 Comment: It is far too seldom we here from a Churchman such words. To be drunk means the human dignity has gone.

Since the term was coined about 40 years ago, fetal alcohol syndrome has slowly become recognized as a public health issue. Alicestine October reports from South Africa’s Western Cape province, which has the highest reported rate in the world.
“When I was pregnant with my son I drank a lot – mostly on weekends,” says Marion Williams, a 45-year-old mother who lost two of her five children in childbirth.
Williams lives in one of South Africa’s famous wine-growing areas in the Western Cape. She started drinking as a teenager and was taken out of school, she suspects, to work to buy wine for her parents. … (Source: Bulletin of the World Health Organization 2011;89:398–399. doi:10.2471/BLT.11.020611)