www.alkoholpolitik.ch

Press-release by ACTIVE, an INGO Youth Organization welcoming the Swedish EU-Presidency.

Trends in Alcohol Marketing. The Alcohol Industry and Corporate Social Responsibility
With tightening regulations on alcohol marketing, alcohol producers develop new initiatives to make customers aware of their brands and products. One such recent development is the use of Corporate Social Responsibility to build on the image of the companies. This boiles down to alcohol producers claiming to take responsibility in informing customers about responsible drinking behaviour through the use of education. A challanging new development that takes with it certain dangers that are discussed in this report.
This trend report is published by the European Centre for Monitoring Alcohol Marketing (EUCAM). EUCAM is set up to collect, exchange and to promote knowledge and experience about alcohol marketing throughout Europe. (Source: EUCAM Newsletter June/July 2009)

Add to Technorati Favorites
Add to Mr.Wong

Alcohol Concern’s new report: The Price is Right: protecting communities through action on alcohol sales.
This new report investigates the relationship between the price of alcohol, consumption levels and alcohol-related harms and calls for a mandatory code of practice to be introduced to regulate the retail drinks industry. (Source: Eurocare Newsletter April/May 09) copy of the report

Add to Technorati Favorites
Add to Mr.Wong

Asia leads the way. As some companies continue to see stagnation and falling sales in Western Europe, their main focus has now shifted to the emerging markets – in particular, Asia and Russia but also Eastern Europe.
Interestingly, despite problems in the global economy, market analysts are forecasting a solid global growth in the industry’s income for the next three years. It is estimated that the financial crisis is likely to help volume growth but slow value growth, as consumers will be more willing to purchase cheaper alcohol and consume it at home. (Source: Eurocare, Newsletter April/May 09)

Add to Technorati Favorites
Add to Mr.Wong

Sipping wine, beer or spirits three to four times per week increases the risk of binge drinking, particularly among young men, according to a new study published in the journal Addiction. Researchers from the Université de Montréal and the University of Western Ontario analyzed the drinking habits of Canadians and found that frequent alcohol consumption can lead to binge drinking among all gender and all age groups. (Source: Medical News Today, 5/29/09)

Add to Technorati Favorites

According to a report CASA issued this morning, (see our entry yesterday) federal, state and local governments spend almost half a trillion dollars every year — almost 11 percent of their total budgets — as a result of alcohol, tobacco and other drug abuse and addiction. The worst part is that, for federal and state spending, about 95% of that money is spent „Shoveling Up“ the mess created by a failure to provide enough money for prevention and treatment.
Out of every dollar federal and state governments spent on substance misuse in 2005 (the latest data available), 95 cents paid for the enormous burden of this problem on health care, criminal justice, child welfare, education, and other programs. And only 2 cents were invested in prevention and treatment programs that could reduce many of these costs — and save lives.
This huge waste of money is hidden in many different budgets, so most of our elected officials don’t have a clue about how much alcohol, tobacco and other drugs really cost taxpayers, and how little governments spend to effectively address the problem. Maybe if they knew, they might do something. You can tell them. (Source: Join Together, Take Action! 5/29/09)

Add to Technorati Favorites

NEW CASA* REPORT FINDS FEDERAL, STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS SPEND ALMOST HALF A TRILLION DOLLARS A YEAR ON SUBSTANCE ABUSE AND ADDICTION.
WASHINGTON, D.C., May 28, 2009 – Substance abuse and addiction cost federal, state and local governments at least $467.7 billion in 2005, according to Shoveling Up II: The Impact of Substance Abuse on Federal, State and Local Budgets, a new 287-page report released today by The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University.
The CASA report found that of $373.9 billion in federal and state spending, 95.6 percent ($357.4 billion) went to shovel up the consequences and human wreckage of substance abuse and addiction; only 1.9 percent went to prevention and treatment, 0.4 percent to research, 1.4 percent to taxation and regulation, and 0.7 percent to interdiction. (Source: CASA Report press release, 5/28/09)

Add to Technorati Favorites

German adolescents are top at boozing! In the current edition of Deutsches Arzteblatt International (Dtsch Arztebl Int 2009; 106 (19): 323 – 8), Martin Stolle et al. of the German Center for Addiction Research in Childhood and Adolescence in Hamburg report that the main change has been the increase in the number of intoxicated girls. In their article, the authors present motivating short-term interventions to counteract secondary problems. (Source: Medical News Today, 5/23/09)

Add to Technorati Favorites

On the cover of this issue: * GAPA Chairman receives “Lifetime Achievement Award”
Also in this issue:
* Editorial. Advocacy for The Global Alcohol Strategy – The Task for NGOs
* Progress on Global Alcohol Strategy
* New Zealand Government supports Global Alcohol Strategy
* Chief Medical Officer for England calls for Minimum Pricing of Alcohol
* Action for a Sober South Africa
* Intoxicating Brands: Alcohol Advertising and Youth
* New Products for New Drinkers
* Report suggests affordability of alcohol is a driver of consumption and harm
* Conference on the prevention of alcohol-related harm in East Africa
etc. THE GLOBE is available online here.

Add to Technorati Favorites

Addiction is not a disease but rather a behavior that can be controlled, according to a Harvard psychologist who points to the fact that some addicts can voluntarily quit using to support his hypothesis. The Toronto Star reported May 16 that Gene M. Heyman, author of the new book, Addiction: A Disorder of Choice, writes that the public has been deceived by addiction experts. He agrees that individuals can be genetically predisposed to addiction, and that changes occur in the brains of addicts, but contends that the decision to use or quit remains voluntary. (Source: Join Together, 5/21/09)