www.alkoholpolitik.ch

Problematic drug and alcohol use has a profound impact on society. From the personal and social harms to the financial costs of drug-related crime and medical treatment, this is a burden that is increasingly hard to bear not only economically, but morally and socially. Moreover it is one that may increase as we enter a period of economic hardship. There is a constant need for new insights, and … (Source: Alcohol Reports, 11/24/10) thersa.org, November 2010

A statewide commission will urge legislators to create a drug czar to oversee drug and alcohol addiction programs.
Healthcare costs associated with alcohol and drug abuse amounted to $3.2 billion during 2006 in Oregon – while 70 percent of people who were incarcerated had a substance abuse problem. Attorney General John Kroger made this quite clear when he spoke to a legislative health policy committee recently. (Source: Google Alcohol News, 11/17/10) thelundreport.org, 11/15/10

An Indiana University study (APHA 2010) found that Indiana spends more on the health care consequences of substance abuse than on its prevention.
Eric Wright, director of the Center for Health Policy at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, said that for every dollar Indiana spends on services dealing directly and indirectly with substance abuse, 66 cents are used for health care-related consequences while only 1 cent pays for prevention/intervention initiatives. (Source: Medical News Today, 11/10/10)

Hospital_Booze. As competition among hospitals stiffens, some institutions are resorting to offering patients a few too many comforts of home— or of their local bar. Despite being known to weaken the immune system and prolong illness, hospitals are starting to serve patients alcohol in hopes of wooing more business.
While these hospitals purportedly rely on physician approval, the potential for abuse is staggering. Susan Levin, the director of nutrition education at the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, called the practice ‘mind-boggling.’“When you consider amount of medications people are on in hospitals — it’s a dangerous system to begin with before you even start mixing alcohol into the cocktail,“ she noted in an interview with NPR.
Considering that so many patients are in the hospital in the first place due to alcohol-related problems, this idea seems especially twisted. The healthcare costs from alcohol consumption alone have been estimated to more than $26 billion dollars, or $686 for every person living in America. With all that’s known about alcohol and health, it is shocking that hospitals are willing to put their patients at risk just for a few extra dollars. (Source: Marin Institute, 11/03/10)

We are, unfortunately, used to seeing booze ads during sports. (Baseball: the nation’s pasttime. Alcohol: the nation’s poison?) And, come October, we’re used to seeing baseball players celebrate playoff series‘ wins with televised champagne sprays.
So, this playoff season when the Texas Rangers won the American League Divisional Series, and then the A.L. Championship Series (ALCS), the Ale of choice — Ginger Ale — was a welcome surprise.
The Rangers gave dual celebrations — one nonalcoholic — out of respect for their ALCS MVP center-fielder Josh Hamilton, who is sober and in ongoing recovery. They also gave a separate champagne party for players. (Source: Join Together, 11/02/10)

It has been known for many years that drinking alcohol while pregnant can cause serious and irreversible damage to the fetus. However, new research exploring memory deficits in children diagnosed with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) or fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) may be able to aid in the creation of new therapies and treatments. (Source: Medical News Today, 10/21/10)

South Dakota State University researchers have demonstrated for the first time that a plant-derived compound used to treat nicotine addiction also has significant effects against alcohol addiction.
SDSU scientists are now investigating whether the compound may offer lasting treatment against alcohol relapse, craving, and perhaps alcohol-nicotine co-addiction as well. (Source: Medical News Today, 10/21/10)

A broad coalition of Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs), employers, federal officials, researchers, and behavioral health care providers wants to see EAPs screen and provide brief intervention for problem drinking on a routine basis by October 2011.
The BIG initiative (named for the Brief Intervention Group) set the ambitious goal of increasing the number of people identified by EAPs as having alcohol problems by 100% between October 2008 and October 2011. (Source: Join Together, 10/21/10)

The Treatment Research Institute (TRI) released on Sept. 13 a white paper outlining the successes and challenges faced by model programs aimed at integrating substance abuse services into primary care. The institute believes the paper can serve as a much-needed “roadmap” for new integration projects across the country.
The report, entitled „Integrating Substance Use Services into Health Care Settings: An Issue Brief on Lessons Learned and Challenges Ahead,“ summarizes the results of the 2010 Forum on Integration, a conference hosted by TRI in April. (Source: Join Together, 10/19/10)

Three Oklahoma officials urged state lawmakers to raise the alcohol tax to help address a 2012 fiscal year budget deficit that could be as large as $800 million, the Associated Press reported Oct. 14.
Health Commissioner Terry Cline and Mental Health Commissioner Terri White were joined by Department of Human Services director Howard Hendrick in advocating for the alcohol tax increase.
Cline said that his agency cut employees and services to meet a 15 percent cut for the past two years. „One or two years of cuts to that infrastructure could result in decades of loss in terms of well-being for constituents in our system,“ he said. (Source: Join Together, 10/18/10)