www.alkoholpolitik.ch

However the report also finds some variations, suggesting further research and monitoring. Findings and recommendations include:
* The relationship between alcohol misuse and poor sexual health outcomes means there is an urgent need for the integration of health services for young people. It should be routine for professionals to address sexual health and alcohol issues simultaneously.
* Campaigns/services that aim to address teenage conception should include alcohol consumption in young men as well as young women, since alcohol misuse in both sexes independently predicts teenage pregnancy and sexual infections
* Attention needs to be paid to local factors that may play a role in enhancing risk of conception among groups of young people. (Source: Alcohol Policy UK, 06/09/11)

A public high school in Long Island, New York is opening an in-house drug and alcohol abuse clinic. According to Daytop Treatment Services, which will run the clinic, it is the first such facility in New York State and possibly in the United States.
Reuters reports that the clinic is opening in response to a jump in substance abuse among students. It will be housed at the William Floyd High School in Mastic Beach, NY, and will open in August. The clinic will provide counseling, but will not dispense methadone or other medications. (Source: Join Together, 06/09/11)

Alcohol use, depression, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder together account for 45 percent of disabilities among young people ages 10 to 24 worldwide, about four times as much as that caused by unintentional injuries, according to a study of data from the World Health Organization.

The study researchers added up years of healthy living that were lost due to a disability and death. The Los Angeles Times reports that the study found alcohol accounted for 7 percent of lost healthy years. The article notes that the study is the first of its kind to give a comprehensive picture of young people’s global health. (Source: Join Together, 06/08/11)

A bill under consideration by the California Senate would ban retailers from selling alcohol through self-service checkouts. The bill has already been approved by the state Assembly.
The bill aims to make it more difficult for minors or already-intoxicated customers to purchase alcohol. Supporters say it would also reduce theft. Similar bills have been considered twice before by the California Legislature, the Oakland Tribune reports. In 2009, a similar bill was approved by the Legislature but vetoed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The bill is supported by United Food and Commercial Workers Union, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, several police organizations and anti-drug and anti-alcohol groups, the article notes. … (Source: Join Together, 06/08/11)

Mumbai has voted to raise the age limit for buying spirits from 21 to 25 and beer 18 to 21, sparking concern from the drinks industry and fury among young people.
Politicians agreed to change the minimum age as part of moves to discourage under-age consumption and problem drinking.
The measures – which include fines for illegal drinking, a ban on serving alcohol at public functions and ceremonies and more „dry days“ when the sale of alcohol is banned – will apply in Mumbai and across the state of Maharashtra.
But Indian spirit-makers and the hotel and restaurant industry reacted strongly against the decision, saying it would adversely affect business.
„Thirty per cent of white spirits is consumed by people under 25,“ said Deepak Roy, vice-chairman and chief executive of Allied Blenders and Distillers (ABD), which makes the Indian whisky Officer’s Choice. (Source: Alcohol Reports, 06/07/11) telegraph.co.uk, 06/02/11

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)

Drinking motives have a prominent role in cognitive models of adolescent and adult alcohol decision-making … The complementary construct of motivation not to drink has received less attention. …
We examined how abstinence motives interacted with drinking motives and alcohol expectancies to predict alcohol consumption in samples of US high school students (N > 2,500).
Nondrinking motives predicted lower rates of lifetime and current alcohol use. Motives not to drink interacted with specific drinking motives, like social and coping motives, and alcohol expectancies to predict certain aspects of drinking behavior. For example, motives not to drink had the greatest impact on youth with weaker social motivations.
Findings highlight the distinction between motives not to drink and other alcohol-related cognitions in predicting adolescent alcohol consumption.
This work not only supports the utility of this construct in developing models of youth alcohol-related decision-making but also has implications for prevention programming. (Source: Alcohol Reports, 06/04/11)

Findings: Informing change. Although concerns are growing about young people’s drinking habits in the UK, recent studies suggest that having peers from minority ethnic backgrounds is related to lower drinking rates. However, little is known about how young people in multicultural societies experience interethnic contact within friendship groups or the potential effect of this on drinking attitudes and behaviours. … (Source: Alcohol Reports, 06/01/11) jrf.org.uk, May 2011

A third of drug addicts or problem drinkers in treatment have childcare responsibilities and the lives of these children are much improved when providers and children’s services get together early on to ensure the whole family gets the support it may need.
A new practical guide issued today (Wednesday, 1st June) by the National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse (NTA) says those responsible for drink and drug treatment must take a wider, more preventative approach, identifying early on when families need help as well as protecting children from neglect and harm. (Source: Medical News Today, 06/01/11)

International News from Sweden, UK, USA, Canada, Malaysia, India etc. (Source: Alcohol Reports, 05/30/11)