www.alkoholpolitik.ch

Our “Alcohol’s harm to others” conference took place on 3 June in Edinburgh. Around 100 delegates attended to hear from expert speakers and workshop leaders on the impact of excessive drinking on people other than the drinker, with a particular focus on children and young people.
Presentations can be downloaded below and the conference report will be available soon. (Source: Alcohol Reports, 06/10/11)

Aims: This study aims to document the adverse effects of drinkers in Australia on people other than the drinker. … Conclusions: Substantial proportions of Australians are affected by other people’s drinking, including that of their families, friends, co-workers and strangers. These harms range in magnitude from noise and fear to physical abuse, sexual coercion and social isolation. (Source: Alcohol Reports, 03/26/11) onlinelibray.wiley.com

… reduced wellbeing and health status for those with heavy drinkers in their lives.
The impact of alcohol on those other than the drinker is an under- researched area with important policy implications.
This study is a first step in investigating relationships between exposure to heavy drinkers in respondent’s lives with measures of health status and wellbeing.
A cross-sectional general population survey was carried out among 3068 New Zealand residents aged 12 to 80 years (response rate – 64%) using an in house Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing system. …
There is a relationship between exposure to heavy drinkers and reduced personal wellbeing and poorer health status in this cross-sectional general population sample. Exposure to heavy drinkers may have negative impacts for others. (Source: Alcohol Reports, 01/14/11)

Introduction: People other than the drinker experience harmful consequences from alcohol misuse, accounting for part of the economic burden to society. Little has been done on costing harm to others.
Conclusion: Few studies have reported costs on the magnitude from harm to people other than the drinker, therefore the overall economic burden of risky alcohol consumption across countries is underestimated. This review may be considered a starting point for future research on costing alcohol harm to others. (Source: Alcohol Reports, 01/10/11) National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia, Available online 28 December 2010. sciencedirect.com

Alcohol is the most damaging drug to the drinker and others overall, heroin and crack are the second and third most harmful, Professor David Nutt and colleagues wrote in the medical journal The Lancet today. When all factors related to self harm and harm to others are considered, alcohol comes out top. The authors explain that drugs, including tobacco products and alcohol are major contributors to damage to individuals as well as society as a whole.
The harms that are caused by drugs need to be comprehensively assessed so that policy makers can be properly advised regarding health, social care and policing, the authors write; not an easy undertaking because drugs can cause damage in so many different ways. (Source: Medical News Today, 11/1/10) our online-comment: For many decades alcohol has been called the socio-medical problem No.1. This study is just an additional piece of proof. But a very valuable one, as it comes in a time when governments are not willing to implement the new alcohol strategy of the World Health Organization (May 2010), even if they signed it, because they are under permanent pressure of the global alcohol industry. This sort of corruption costs human tragedies and lives every day and the people is not able to protest as it is not informed.
(see press release by Active, 11/03/10)