Drink, drugs, Eton and the world's wildest party

The Sykes sisters, according to some social commentators on America's East Coast, are the most prominent clan in fashionable society since the Mitfords. Plum Sykes, the socialite and celebrity author, is one of the most adored British imports in New York. Her sisters, Lucy and Alice, are only slightly less feted for their contributions to the glossy Manhattan world of clothes and fashion.

Their brother, Tom, however, is the renegade member of the family. Not for Sykes the genteel prominence of his sisters: since he discovered alcohol at Eton at 14, his notoriety has been founded on his ability to consume prodigious amounts of alcohol and drugs, and party hard all night, every night.

'People thought I was a crazy drunk guy and that's what I was,' he admitted. 'That was the whole point of being me. That was my brand. I was drunk every night. My heart hurt and palpitated with alarming frequency from all the coke I was doing and weed I was smoking. Every single night out ended in embarrassment and disaster. In two years, I spent £40,000 on alcohol and drugs.'

Sykes's tale of addiction, intoxication and excess is now about to be revealed in a disarmingly honest book which has already caused a publishing stir across the Atlantic. His autobiography, What Did I Do Last Night? A Drunkard's Tale, is about to be published in Britain.

'I discovered alcohol at the age of 14 at Eton,' he said. 'The school got round the licensing laws by claiming Tap, the subsidised school bar, was a private social club. Technically you were allowed only two pints of beer. In reality you had to fall over before you were cut off.'

Sykes took enthusiastically to drinking, leading to his expulsion two years later. The lesson, however, was wasted on him: his choice of university revolved entirely around alcohol: 'Most people choose their university on the basis of where they are likely to get the best education ... My major consideration was Scottish licensing laws,' he writes. 'When I went to Edinburgh, I was a social drinker but somehow, by the time I left, I had lost control. Somewhere I stepped off the ledge and into deep water.'

Working as a journalist in London, for the Evening Standard and then GQ, did not help his addiction as both provided easy access to parties and long nights of drinking. Just before he was about to be fired from GQ for his erratic behaviour, Sykes, 28, had a stroke of luck: thanks to his sisters, he was offered a job at the New York Post. 'I've never seen anyone look so relieved as my editor, Dylan Jones, when I resigned,' he admitted.

New York was a professional success but a personal disaster. He persuaded the paper to let him write a column on local bars, and began writing for the Page Six gossip column. He hung out in the ultra-trendy Soho House with Anna Wintour, David Bowie, Uma Thurman and the Beckhams. 'Because of my job, people couldn't give me enough free booze,' he said. 'But my drinking was no longer a liability. It was a qualification, a vocation, a career. All my life had been leading up to this.'

As well as the drinking, Sykes was smoking his way through an ounce of cannabis a week. His behaviour began to disintegrate: when he arrived at clubs, managers would allocate him a personal security guard to try to prevent the inevitable fights he would cause. 'My life began to unravel,' he said.

His epiphany came when he woke up one morning to be told he had smashed up his favourite bar the night before. He had no memory of his violence. 'My eyes, my kidneys, my nose - my whole body ached ... but for once, I longed to be well ... For once, when I retched, I didn't just taste the bitter alcoholic leftovers in my bile. I could taste shame.'

Sykes joined Alcoholics Anonymous and began the long, painful process of recovery. Now, living in Ireland with his wife and young daughter, he still looks back with something like nostalgia. 'I miss my old life,' he said. 'I miss getting drunk. I miss the exhilaration of losing control, the drama, the craziness ... It doesn't get any easier but I've realised that nightlife is a big business. Casualties like me? We're just natural wastage.'

The Observer

Don't give up on your good habits

Marrying someone with the idea of changing them is less successful than Baron Frankenstein's experiment trying to give life to a conglomeration of body parts.

But still, somehow, some people do change. I do not recommend abused spouses and children waiting around until the abuser changes. But some people, over decades, make some progress. Many more could.

The one great contribution of the United States to worldwide spirituality is Alcoholics Anonymous and its 12-Step charter showing people how they can change. I do not say it outlines how a person can change solo. The first step is recognizing our powerlessness and turning our lives over, 24 hours at a time, to a "higher power." Naturally, as a priest, I have my own idea of how the higher power captures our lives or tries to.

The next steps calculate damage and give directions for restitution. Restitution? In a land of lawyers, this is subversive talk. But it is a reality check that keeps us from wallowing in our contrition at the expense of those we rolled over. It means public contrition and even writing some checks. The victims should accept the money even if only to pass it along to good causes. The victims are doing the addicts a favor by depriving them of material comforts.

I know that people can change and cannot change. My mother died last June in her sleep at 81, still with the habit of smoking two packs of cigarettes a day. She died on a Sunday, which meant she had read her morning paper, a ritual as important as nicotine and caffeine.

When the elevators were shut down after a fire two years ago, she walked down 30 flights of steps to get the paper that Sunday morning. She also had two fried eggs that morning, as she did every morning. She had a decent cholesterol count of 179.

She beat the odds by not changing these usually unhealthy habits. But there were two serious ways she did change. She became very focused for the last nine months of her life. The death of my sister, who was two years younger than I, might have been the occasion of despair. Instead, my mother became more focused and loving.

The other was her alcoholism. She was a retired alcoholic who especially appreciated one friend who called her some weeks before she died. My mother said that there was a long period when she became socially unacceptable (and that was an understatement), but this friend stuck with her.

There were, though, two other habits in her life she did not give up on: her fighting for the poor against the powers that be and her love of human presence. She said of the hospice people attending her, "These people are really there."

I am glad she did not change in her defense of the poor or her love of top professionals who do more than go through the motions. There should be no surrender there, no change.

Star Bulletin

Is AA Effective?

At stats, we’re huge fans of randomized controlled trials, which are the gold standard of evidence for working out whether drugs or therapies are effective or not. By comparing those who receive one treatment to those who receive another, or a placebo, randomized controlled trials allow scientists to determine whether improvements seen in patients are caused by the treatments under study.

But there is a problem with randomized controlled trials when it comes to evaluating certain psychological treatments; one that was missed in a recent report on the effectiveness of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) as a treatment for alcoholism in the Wall Street Journal.

The Journal reported that a Cochrane review, which concluded that the data did not support claims that AA is more effective than other approaches, lead to misleading reporting and headlines like “Review Sees No Advantage to 12-Step Programs.”

But that headline is, in fact, a fair characterization of the best data on AA. Contrary to the Journal’s claims that AA “hasn't been subjected to the gold standard of medical experiments, the double-blind randomized clinical trial,” there have been several trials that did just that.

They just didn’t happen to find an advantage for AA – a conclusion that the Journal finds impossible to accept in light of the fact that “untold multitudes of problem drinkers have become abstinent after attending A.A. meetings.” The paper points out that many studies have found a connection between AA attendance and reduced drinking; and even though this may just be a correlation rather than proof of cause and effect, it can, nonetheless, be “treated as powerful evidence.”

But what this shows is not that AA works in general but that AA works for those who choose to attend it. This is fine: there are many psychological treatments that work for those who prefer them, but are ineffective or even harmful to those who are randomly selected or even forced to participate in them.

Randomized controlled trials can’t tell you whether treatments like this are superior or inferior to each other because randomization eliminates the self-selection that is crucial to their success. Whether self-selection is the only thing that matters (whether, for example, people who would have gotten sober anyway, because they are highly motivated, are those who choose to attend AA, while those who are unmotivated do not) – may not be discerned without much more research.

But, as one of the studies covered in the Cochrane review found, if AA has any advantage over other treatments that do not carry its baggage of involving surrender to a higher power and asking his help with “character defects,” they haven’t yet been found in years of study.

The Journal was right to say that many professional treatments simply make people pay for what AA provides free of charge (such as advice on working its 12-steps), and that this is why researchers should determine whether such approaches are worth insurance and government funding. But the paper should have critiqued the dominance of the AA approach in professional treatment without evidence for its efficacy instead of critiquing the Cochrane review for relying on inadequate methodology.

STATS @ George Mason University

Battle of the binge

Picking a fight with the monks of Buckfast Abbey has become something of a habit for Scotland's politicians. Andy Kerr, the Scottish health minister, has taken issue with the Devon-based Benedictine order that produces the potent tonic wine, "an irresponsible drink" that Kerr believes holds a special place in the hearts, and livers, of Scottish youth.

His intervention follows that of justice minister Cathy Jamieson, who urged her local shopkeeper not to stock Buckfast. But representatives for the monks believe they are being made scapegoats for Scotland's notoriously destructive relationship with alcohol. Buckfast, they say, accounts for less than 1% of the alcohol market in Scotland. The average age of a Buckfast drinker is 30.

What the Buckfast row does do, however, is illustrate the zeal with which ministers are now approaching the issue of alcohol abuse. In a few weeks' time, the Scottish executive will unveil a new alcohol action plan, having made it clear that this is to be the next big public health push, following the ban on smoking.

Ministers have talked of the need for nothing less than a cultural shift, a direct challenge to the centuries-old tradition of the Scot as a hard drinker. And this time they are serious, emboldened by the success of the smoking ban and disturbed by a rash of new statistics underlining just how terrible a toll alcohol is taking.

"They have looked into the future and seen what the long-term damage is going to be to our working population and our young people," says Tom Wood, Scotland's drugs and alcohol tsar.

Some of the measures in the new plan are said to include: a national proof-of-age card, putting pressure on the UK government and the EU to look at the issues of advertising and marketing by the drinks industry; controlling the spread of licensed premises; more funding for early intervention programmes and research; and new training initiatives.

There has also been talk of a ban on alcohol branding on children's sports shirts, and warnings labels on drinks. It is not thought these will be explicitly included in the alcohol action plan, but Kerr recently announced the first joint initiative between the drinks industry and government to produce guidelines on alcohol promotion, responsible drinking, and sports sponsorship.

Study after study has revealed the worsening impact of Scots' drinking habits. There has been a 20% rise in alcohol-related deaths since 1999; the number of men dying from cirrhosis of the liver has quadrupled since the 1950s and the number of women has almost trebled. Between 1996 and 2004, the rate of alcohol-related emergency hospital admissions rose by 40% for men, and 30% for women. The bill for the country's boozing excesses currently stands at £1.1bn a year in health and social spending.

"Our difficulty in Scotland is that our relationship with alcohol is out of balance - it's as simple as that," says Wood. "The issue is not just the amount of drink but the way we drink, the fact we binge drink. We are starting to see people suffering from severe alcohol-related illness at a much earlier age. That's why it has moved on up the agenda for the Scottish executive, why ministers are really, really taking this seriously now."

Wood believes the fight against alcohol abuse has lost out to the war against drugs. "It has crept up on us," he says. "A lot of people have had our attention diverted elsewhere to drugs because we have seen heroin as being the bogeyman and have concentrated on that. We have allowed alcohol to grow underneath us and get out of control again. But our eyes are wide open now."

Jack Law, of Alcohol Focus Scotland, is optimistic that change can be effected in the same way that drink-driving became taboo and seatbelts de rigueur.

It is a view shared by Gerard Hastings, a social marketing expert form Stirling University, who will argue the point at a major UK conference on alcohol next month. He believes there is a real chance for Scotland to lead the way on reversing the country's drinking culture, as long as it is prepared to take on the drinks industry. "You can portray Scotland as a kebab-eating, lager-swilling party animal in a see-you-Jimmy hat, drinking to excess but generally loved and great fun. Or you can see Scotland as a small country that's getting more independent, more confident, more able to make its own way in the world and, indeed, able to lead. They are going to have to grasp nettles, though. It means people will have to drink less, which means sales will go down."

The drinks industry and the licensed trade insist they are pulling their weight. "They (the Scottish Executive) are only catching up with what we have been saying for a long time," says Paul Waterson, of the Scottish Licensed Trade Association.

But Wood says: "In Scotland particularly, the industry seems to occupy some high moral ground because it brings so much to the exchequer. I think they have to take a long look in the mirror about what they do, how they market their products, if they don't want to end up in the same place the tobacco industry has done."

Guardian

Shock at Rocketing Booze Toll

The number of Scots seeking help for alcohol abuse has soared.

Women in their 20s are the biggest culprits with one in three binge drinking on a regular basis.

The majority of them are young professionals in high-pressure jobs.

As a result, 18 Alcoholics Anonymous groups have been set up in Scotland in the past year, bringing the total to 905.

Medical experts warned that binge-drinking among young professionals was leading to major problems.

Glasgow GP Dr Alan McDevitt said: "When you get a lot of young people together in industries such as IT, finance or sales, there can be a regular drinking culture.

"I have seen patients who have come from that kind of background recognising that they have started to have a problem.

"Traditionally, drinking was endemic in industries such as shipbuilding.

"Now it is high-performance service industries.

"It is seen as socially acceptable to drink far more. By the time people get to AA they are usually suffering social problems because of their drinking."

AA insiders confirmed that the number of young people seeking help has soared.

A Glasgow-based insider said: "In the past the average age of people first attending was around 45 but recently drinkers are becoming aware of their problem much earlier.

"We are seeing people beginning to attend AA around 20 to 30 years of age.

"The rise in female members has also increased greatly."

A study by University College London found that Scottish, English and Irish women aged 17 to 30 are the biggest drinkers.

The study looked at the drinking habits of 17,000 men and women in 21 countries.

It found Scottish, English and Irish women drank 11 times more than those in Germany and Italy.

The study also found that 26 per cent of British men went binge-drinking.

The Daily Record

Binge drink crisis hits young workers.

Scotland's spiralling binge drinking culture has led to a big rise in young professionals seeking urgent help for alcohol addiction, crisis services have revealed.

Doctors yesterday warned the traditional drinking culture endemic in heavy industries has now been adopted by twenty- and thirty-somethings - many of them women - working in highly pressured jobs in sectors such as finance and marketing.

Their worries were backed up by figures from Alcoholics Anonymous seen by Scotland on Sunday which reveal 18 new groups have been set up across Scotland in the past year to meet growing demand for help from young people.

Dr Alan McDevitt, from the British Medical Association's Glasgow GPs' committee, said that while alcoholism affects all social groups, the culture of regular heavy drinking among young professionals is leading to major problems.

He said: "When you get a lot of young people together in industries such as IT, finance or sales, working in the city centre or in call centre environments, there can be a regular drinking culture.

"I have seen patients who have come from that kind of background recognising that they have started to have a problem. Traditionally, drinking was endemic in industries such as shipbuilding, rail and heavy engineering. Now it is in high-performance service industries. It is seen as socially acceptable to drink far more.

"If you take an industry which is predominantly staffed by young people, acceptable heavy regular drinking is a potent mix and a new breeding ground for alcoholism."

"By the time people get to AA they are usually suffering social problems because of their drinking," he added.

Insiders at Alcoholics Anonymous also revealed that the number of young people joining is rising "significantly". Since January, 18 new AA groups have been set up, bringing the total in Scotland to 905. Groups have been established in areas including Edinburgh, Glasgow, Livingston, Paisley, Balfron in Stirlingshire and St Monans in Fife.

A Glasgow-based insider said: "In the past, the average age of people first attending the fellowship was around 45 but recently drinkers are becoming aware of their alcohol problem much earlier. We are seeing people beginning to attend AA around 20-30 years of age and also have many younger members under 20.

"The rise in female members has also increased greatly and almost matches male members. Membership never goes down. It is always rising."

Another member, John H, said: "AA is the last saloon in town when people have tried everything else because they know it's about stopping drinking. When the organisation started 70 years ago it was for men drinking on park benches. Over the decades the membership has become younger and with more women."

He added: "It's not unreasonable to assume that with the fast technological society we live in, and the number of drugs youngsters are taking at an earlier age, people are going to reach rock bottom earlier than they used to. The general picture is of young women drinking the same as men so they get sober the same as men."

Half of alcoholics who contact AA join the organisation and half of these are still sober a year later. However, as professionals unwound in Edinburgh's bars on Friday night, attitudes about alcohol abuse were largely relaxed and carefree.

Tracey, a 28-year old personal assistant, said: "Truth be told, I probably have too much. This occupational health person came round to our work and one of the things that came up was drink and I had to do a kind of diary of what I drank.

"She was shocked when she worked out I was having about as much each 48 hours as I should have in a week. But hey, what the hell, I'm only young once. I'm going to enjoy it."

Most, however, did not think they had anything to worry about.

Claire, 30, who works in international development, said: "I go out to have a few drinks now and again but I don't think I have a problem. I know what people are talking about when they say that women are drinking too much, but I don't think we're as bad as men.

"Times have changed. When my mother was my age she had four kids - she couldn't be going out like I could."

Her friend Victoria, a 31-year-old public policy executive, said: "I do know friends who put themselves at risk when they drink. They go out and have too much. I don't drink as much as I used to, especially when I was a student. I don't have the time or disposable income for that kind of thing any more."

Lisa, a 30-year-old teacher, added: "I don't drink through the week because I need to have a clear head in the morning. But I think it's OK to go out once a week and have a few drinks with friends."

Alcohol is estimated to cost the economy £6.4bn each year through absenteeism and premature death. A report last week by the charity Alcohol Concern revealed hungover workers in the UK took 17 million sick days in the last year.

Scotsman

New brief intervention initiative to tackle alcohol problems

A major new research programme to tackle alcohol problems is launched today at a national conference hosted by St George’s, University of London.

A new £3.2 million implementation national research programme of alcohol screening and brief intervention, funded by the Department of Health, will identify the best method of helping people with alcohol problems attending primary care, accident and emergency departments, and criminal justice agencies in England. Alcohol misuse and dependence affect 8.2 million adults in England leading to an estimated cost to society of £20 billion per annum. Alcoholic liver disease is at an all time high level, and alcohol is now the 3rd leading cause of ill health after tobacco and high blood pressure.

This research programme, known as the “Alcohol Screening and Brief Intervention Trailblazers”, aims to find the best method to identify people who are drinking in a harmful way at an early stage, and to provide advice and support to prevent alcohol related harm. As well as evaluating the impact on alcohol consumption and health, the research will assess the cost savings to health and social care services of screening and brief alcohol intervention. Chief Investigator, Professor Colin Drummond of St George’s, University of London said “this will be the largest alcohol treatment research project ever conducted in the UK. This programme aims to find the best method of helping those people whose lives and health are affected by alcohol. Together with our partners, Universities of Newcastle, York, Imperial College and the national non-statutory agency on alcohol misuse Alcohol Concern, we aim to be able to recommend to the government the most cost effective method of helping people who are drinking in a harmful way, in health and criminal justice settings.”

The launch conference for the Trailblazers at St George’s will be attended by over 250 delegates from the health, social care, criminal justice, and voluntary sectors, including a wide range of professionals: researchers, doctors, nurses, psychologists, social workers and probation officers. Entitled “Alcohol misuse: causes, consequences, and solutions”, the conference programme includes contributions from experts in the field of alcohol research and treatment who will describe the impact of alcohol and ways of tackling alcohol related harm.

The conference will be addressed by Caroline Flint, MP, Minister of State for Public Health, who will launch the new research programme. She said: "We are determined to tackle alcohol related harm and have already invested large amounts of time and resources in doing so - for example we launched the hard hitting campaign "Know Your Limits" last week. The fact that we are now funding this £3.2m research programme shows our commitment to creating a culture where responsible drinking is the norm." The conference will also be addressed by Professor Chris Day from Newcastle University who will describe the rising prevalence of alcoholic liver disease, and Professor Robin Touquet, from St Mary’s Hospital in London, will outline the impact of alcohol and binge drinking on accident and emergency departments, as well as ways of tackling the problem. Sarah Mann of the National Probation Directorate will discuss methods of tackling alcohol misuse in the criminal justice system.

Innovations Report

Binge drinking to blame for half of all UK violence

More than half of all violence in the UK is fuelled by binge drinking, alarming research has revealed.

The Department of Health-backed study is the latest proof that Labour's relaxed attitude to alcohol is having devastating consequences on society.

It follows revelations that almost a quarter of people believe their lives are being blighted by drunks fighting, vomiting and urinating in the streets or threatening them.

The latest study, carried out by academics, found that heavy and binge-drinking is the root cause of 56 per cent of all fights and violence in the UK.

Worryingly, the true figure could be even higher, as it is thought many people would have been too embarrassed to own up to the true extent of their drinking - and its effect on their behaviour.

It was also completed before the introduction of 24-hour drinking in November last year by Labour, which is certain to have increased the number of drink-fuelled brawls on town centre streets.

The University of London study looked at the link between alcohol, drugs and psychiatric problems and violence.

More than 8,000 men and women aged between 16 and 74 years old were surveyed, with questions including 'Have you been a physical fight, assaulted or deliberately hit anyone in the past five years?'.

One in eight had been involved in some sort of violence - a level comparable with some parts of New York.

Men were more likely to get into brawls than women, with young, single men the worst offenders.

However, when alcohol was added into the equation, women were more likely to be violent than men, reinforcing other studies which have shown a surge in the number of binge-drinking 'ladettes.'

Overall, heavy and binge-drinking men and women were two and a half times more likely to get into a fight, while alcoholics were almost three times more likely to be involved in violence.

Heavy and binge drinking was blamed for 56 per cent of the violence in the UK.

In contrast, drug use and psychiatric problems each accounted for just 15 per cent, the survey, which was conducted in the year 2000, found.

Researcher Dr Min (CORR) Yang, of the University of London's Queen Mary College, said if drinking stopped, violent behaviour in Britain would almost immediately be cut by half.

Writing in the American Journal of Epidemiology earlier this month (OCT), she said levels violence in the UK are on a par with those in the predominately working class Upper Manhattan area of New York.

Soaring numbers of bars in built-up areas, changes to licensing laws and cheap drinks promotions have all contributed to the high levels of violence.

Dr Min, an expert in medical statistics, said: 'Alcohol misuse and its relation to violence, particularly binge-drinking, have generated increasing public and political concern in the UK following a marked increase in premises selling alcohol over the past 25 years and legislative changes relaxing the selling of alcohol.

'Research into alcohol-related disorder highlights the concentration of violent and public order offences in urban areas with high densities of licensed premises that peak at weekends.'

She added that 'an inherent culture of binge-drinking' had compounded the problem.

Shadow Home Secretary David Davis said: 'Given this alarming research it absolutely beggars belief that the Government was happy to simply unleash 24-hour drinking on our towns and communities.

'How much longer must the public pay they very high price of this Government's startling incompetence.'

Liberal Democrat culture spokesman Don Foster said: 'There needs to be much more work done on tackling the underlying problem. For example preventing the two for one, very, very cheap drinks offers that are widely available, not just in pubs and clubs but in supermarkets.'

On Friday, the Daily Mail revealed the Home Office's own study on anti-social behaviour had found 22 per cent of people say public drunkenness and rowdiness is now a big problem in their lives.

It unearthed huge anxiety drunks urinating and vomiting in the streets, and of law-abiding members of the public being afraid to go out at night for fear of being assaulted or intimidated.

The study admitted: 'There have been significant increases in the proportion of people perceiving people being drunk or rowdy in public places.'

A string of other studies have clearly shown the devastating effects of Britain's addiction to alcohol.

Figures from the Centre for Public Health at Liverpool John Moores University showed that 367,000 violent attacks a year are directly attributable to drinking.

The number of women needing hospital treatment after binge-drinking has doubled in five years.

This is London

TV ads highlight 'binge dangers'

TV ads highlight 'binge dangers'

People who have four or five drinks in an evening risk damaging their health, according to a new advertising campaign.

The message is contained in a series of TV adverts which begin on Monday.

The £200,000 Health Promotion Agency campaign aims to raise awareness of the dangers of binge drinking.

The agency's chief executive, Dr Brian Gaffney, said most people were surprised at how few drinks can do damage.

In research carried out in Northern Ireland, over a third of women and almost half of men admitted having at least one such "binge" drinking session in the previous week.

Official figures

The HPA said binges were strongly associated with fatal heart attacks and that they also increased the risk of having a stroke.

Across the UK, hard-hitting TV adverts showing the dangers people face from drinking to excess are to be screened from November.

The £4 million government campaign aims to stop binge and underage drinking.

Younger people are likely to drink heavily - 48% of men and 39% of women aged 16 to 24 drink above daily recommendations, official figures show.

Alcohol alters judgement and perception and can lead people to take risks with their health and safety that they would not normally consider.

BBC News

AA folks rely on coffee instead

More than a thousand drunks are coming to town this week. They're sober today, by the grace of God and the fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous.

They look like you and they look like me. They don't have horns and most of them don't live under the bridge.

But what should you do if the 1,300 AA members all decide to get drunk at the same time?

"Duck," laughs Claudia S., one of the organizers of the state convention.

"It would be a scary situation," she says.

They call themselves drunks because that is what they are. Living one day at a time, they have found sobriety, following the same 12 steps that people have worked since 1935.

It is a simple program that produces extraordinary results. There are no dues. A desire to quit drinking is the only requirement for membership.

This week's itinerary might as well be the agenda for a Jaycees convention. Except there won't be a hospitality room hosted by Jack Daniels.

Coffee is another matter.

Old-timers in AA laugh about people exchanging their thirst for booze for an addiction to coffee.

According to Claudia S., the budget projects they'll consume 189 gallons of coffee, most of it with caffeine. Drinking decaf is like admitting you used to have umbrellas in your drinks.

"We'll spend $4,800 on coffee. It's our largest expense, other than the cost of the Trade Center," Claudia says.

And yes, they dance.

"We dance without drinking, and some folks get pretty wild on the dance floor, too," Claudia says.

Most of the weekend will be spent sharing, one drunk to another. "There is a bond that you don't find in other groups, even church. We're survivors. We have a bond of the heart," Claudia says.

Six of the eight speakers are women, a lineup that would have been unusual a few years ago. Most are circuit speakers, folks who have a story to tell and the ability to tell it well. They're the closest thing there is to AA superstars.

Anonymity remains the cornerstone of AA. The reason for anonymity was evident recently when Hollywood superstars Mel Gibson and Robin Williams got into trouble with alcohol. Each had talked openly of his involvement with the program and their problems cast an unwarranted shadow on AA.

When Gibson was filming "We Were Soldiers," a movie partially set at Fort Benning, word leaked that he was attending local AA meetings. He should have been Mel G., but some folks gossiped about his attendance.

The story was told about an old-timer who was chairing an AA meeting when Mel G. slipped in. There was a buzz in the room that the old guy didn't understand.

Someone whispered that Mel Gibson was there. He looked at him and asked a question others should have asked.

"Who's that?"

Ledger-Enquirer

Alcoholics Anonymous: It works, even if science is lacking

A newly published review of addiction-treatment research delivers a verdict that is being interpreted as highly critical of the 12-step model of Alcoholics Anonymous.

"No experimental studies unequivocally demonstrated the effectiveness of A.A. or (professional 12-step therapy) for reducing alcohol dependence or problems," concluded a group of Italian researchers in a July review in the prestigious Cochrane Library. The purpose of the study was to compare the efficacy of A.A. and professional treatment based on A.A. with other types of alcohol therapies and interventions. The study concluded that A.A. and A.A.-based therapies were no more or less effective than the alternatives, and that more and better studies of A.A. and 12-step therapy are needed.

News coverage was immediate. "Review Sees No Advantage to 12-Step Programs," read the headline in a national newspaper.

Could this mean that A.A., the world-wide fellowship of recovering alcoholics, doesn't work?

What it actually means is that the pursuit of evidence-based medicine sometimes produces conclusions and headlines that are misleading. That untold multitudes of problem drinkers have become abstinent after attending A.A. meetings is undisputed. Also undisputed is that anyone who follows the A.A. recommendation of abstinence will never again experience drinking problems.

The Cochrane conclusion indicates that A.A. hasn't been subjected to the gold standard of medical experiments, the double-blind randomized clinical trial. As a result, no scientific proof exists that A.A. causes its members to quit drinking, that they wouldn't quit eventually on their own or that an alternative might not work just as well.

It is hardly scandalous that A.A. hasn't undergone the most rigorous of scientific testing. Evidence-based medicine is designed to root out false marketing claims and unnecessary costs. A.A. makes no marketing claims and charges no fees. Instead of being handed scientific literature, newcomers to A.A. hear existing members tell how they used the program to get sober. Evidence-based medicine is also designed to compare treatments. An A.A. spokesman in New York says, "We're not in competition with anybody. We're not saying we're better than anybody else. We don't recruit members, and there are no dues or fees for A.A. membership."

A.A. doesn't comment on published research or public criticism, including from addiction specialists or other treatment providers who might view A.A. as competition. This no-comment policy makes A.A. an easy target. A Penn & Teller documentary, televised in 2004 and viewable on the Web, characterizes A.A. as a marketing and financial fraud -- without mentioning that A.A. charges no fees. Subsisting on the sale of literature and donations, A.A. is a nonprofit that in 2005 reported total revenue of $13.2 million and total expenses of $12.9 million.

Many problem drinkers quit with no help. And for those who fail at that, differing addiction treatments tend to succeed at similar rates.

Founded in 1935, A.A. is a decentralized collection of nearly 53,000 groups in the U.S. alone, each autonomous and without any membership list, which would make difficult any effort to conduct a double-blind randomized clinical trial. Such a trial could raise ethical questions if, for instance, a newcomer were steered to an alternative treatment -- including possibly a control group receiving no treatment at all.

A multitude of studies show that A.A. attendance is associated with reduced drinking and higher social functioning. Addiction specialists say these benefits likely apply to newer self-help groups such as Smart Recovery, Secular Organizations for Sobriety and Women for Sobriety.

Unlike randomized clinical trials, associative studies don't prove cause, but are often treated as powerful evidence. For example, although no studies prove that moderate drinking enhances health, a wealth of highly publicized data show that a drink or two a day is associated with reduced rates of cardiovascular disease, among other benefits.

Questions about the efficacy of A.A. arise in part because the treatment industry often immerses its patients -- at a cost -- in the same 12 steps that A.A. introduces free. If professionals are charging for what amounts to an introduction to the A.A. model, experts say, there ought to be evidence of efficacy.

Some experts say the demand for efficacy data on A.A. reflects disbelief among professional therapists that their services are no more effective than a fellowship of recovering drunks. But Marica Ferri, lead author of the Cochrane study, says, "I do not distrust A.A."

Following professional therapy of any sort, A.A. attendance is associated with better outcomes, studies have shown. A year-2000 Journal of Studies on Alcohol study of 466 problem drinkers found that for those who attended A.A. following professional treatment, the three-year abstinence rate doubled, to more than 50 percent.

Professional therapy is often necessary because it gives the patient a chance to speak in private, and because it allows for the diagnosis of co-existing disorders such as depression and anxiety, which are common in alcoholics, particularly women.

The Wall Street Journal

Doctors warn binge drinking epidemic is straining hospitals

Binge drinking has reached 'epidemic' levels following the introduction of round-the-clock drinking a year ago, experts warned last night.

Hospital admissions and alcohol-fuelled street crime are soaring as the first anniversary of the liberalisation of the licensing laws approaches.

Medical experts said that since extended opening hours were introduced last November casualty departments are struggling to cope with a huge rise in the number of drunks and victims of dunken violence who are arriving well into the early hours.

And new police figures show the level of alcohol-related arrests has more than doubled since 2004 as pubs and clubs keep serving through the night.

The findings appear to confirm the worst fears of police chiefs, senior medics and judges who spoke out against the Government's bitterly controversial reforms.

Martin Shalley, president of the British Association for Emergency Medicine, told the Mail: 'It really is reaching epidemic proportions and Britain is changing culturally into a nation of heavy drinkers. It is extremely worrying because the impact on the NHS is enormous.

'More people with alcohol-related injuries or symptoms are presenting at hospitals for treatment than a year ago.'

Mr Shalley, a consultant at Birmingham Heartlands Hospital who speaks on behalf of the country's major hospitals, said: 'Whereas many would be seen earlier in the evening, now people are coming later and later because of the change in the licensing laws.'

In the past alcohol-related admissions typically peaked and tailed off after 11pm, he said, but now the surge continues as late as 4am. A recent study by the BAEM found one in six hospitals reported workloads spreading later through the night.

Mr Shalley added: 'This also has a massive effect on the rest of the NHS with cirrhosis, mental problems and a whole raft of associated disease having to be treated.

'Ten years ago we were not seeing nearly as much alcohol-related disease. It is enormously expensive and has repercussions throughout the NHS.'

He said victims of sustained alcohol abuse were now seeking medical help at a much younger age. Ambulance crews are also seeing their workload increase, staff are having to alter shift patterns to give increased coverage up until 5am, and service chiefs warn that means fewer ambulances available during the day.

Labour's licensing reforms swept away traditional closing times for pubs, clubs and bars and off-licences across England and Wales, with thousands granted late-night opening and hundreds of venues now allowed to serve alcohol around the clock.

Ministers claimed the changes would usher in a 'Continental-style' drinking culture and better behaviour. Critics insisted it was a recipe for disaster.

Professor Ian Gilmore, President of the Royal College of Physicians and a renowned expert on liver damage, said: 'It is disappointing that there appears to be some slippage in cracking down on alcohol sales to under-age youngsters.

'It was the supermarkets who were at the front of the queue for 24-hour sales licences, and this has to be reflected in proper social responsibility measures if voluntary partnerships between the Government and the drinks industry are to have any chance of working.'

The latest warnings came as police figures reveal that the level of alcohol-fuelled crime has risen sharply over recent months.

Data from the latest nationwide police crackdown on binge drinking shows the number of arrests for booze-related offences has leapt 86 per cent since a similar crackdown six months earlier, and more than doubled since Christmas 2004.

The Home Office report measured the results of the twice-yearly Alcohol Misuse Enforcement Campaign, under which police forces are given millions of pounds to target binge-drinking.

The number of alcohol-related arrests each day during this summer's month-long crackdown was 936, compared with 531 during a similar operation before Christmas, and 309 per day the previous December. The rate of drink-related arrests in each police force area taking part has more than doubled in 18 months.

Half of all violent crime in Britain is now fuelled by drunkenness, latest Home Office figures show - rising to 62 per cent for fights between strangers.

There were an astonishing 2.4million drunken assaults last year, creating a new victim every 13 seconds.

Frontline police have voiced intense frustrations, claiming they lack the manpower or cell space to arrest more than a fraction of the drunken louts who should be locked up on busy nights, and that violent yobs and their victims are often equally drunk and later cannot remember what happened.

Some police forces have seen sharp rises in violence against the person offences - the category which includes most drunken brawling - since the laws changed last year.

In the three months to June Hampshire Police saw the number of attacks rise 30 per cent year-on-year, with similar rises of 17 per cent in Wiltshire, 16 per cent in Greater Manchester, 12 per cent in Northumbria and 10 per cent in Hertfordshire.

Crime rates have fallne in other araes though and one rural chief constable claimed the new drinking laws were helping to curb violence outside pubs and clubs.

Carole Howlett of Norfolk Police said she was 'pleasantly surprised' that fewer fights were breaking out as drinkers no longer poured out onto the streets at the same time, and violence against the person was down eight per cent in the first half of 2006.

Almost half of young adults aged 28 to 24 admit to being regular binge-drinkers - drinking to get very drunk at least once a month - and they commit a huge proportion of crimes such as assault and criminal damage.

Home Office figures also show a rise in the proportion of 'sting' test sales where underage youngsters succeed in buying alcohol, particularly from supermarkets.

Daily Mail

New campaign urges young people to know their limits

Responsible Drinking Campaign

'Alcohol makes you feel invincible when you are most vulnerable' says a hard-hitting new campaign launched next week which will urge young people to know their limits when they have a drink.

The new alcohol ad campaign will illustrate a series of different scenarios where young people, thinking they are 'superheroes' while drunk, take risks with their health and safety, for example, falling off high scaffolding, walking home alone, running into a busy road, getting into fights and coming to serious harm.

The joint Department of Health and the Home Office campaign primarily aims to encourage 18 to 24 year olds to drink responsibly and be aware of the possible serious consequences of drinking to excess.

However, the campaign is also designed to appeal to a slightly younger age group, which research suggests may already be drinking illegally. It is hoped that we may be able to influence their future drinking habits if messages are targeted to them earlier.

Latest figures show that:

- 70 per cent of peak time A & E admissions are alcohol related
- One in three reported rapes happens when the victim has been drinking
- Around half of all violent crime is alcohol related
- Figures show that for 16 to 24 year olds in England, 33 per cent of men drank more than 8 units on at least one day and 24 per cent of women drank more than 6 units on at least one day.
- Younger people are likely to drink heavily - 48 per cent of males and 39per cent of females aged 16 to 24 drink above the daily recommendations.

The Know Your Limits campaign will start on October 16 with a thought provoking TV advert. Advertising will be spread across cinema, radio, magazines and online throughout November.

Public Health Minister Caroline Flint said: "In England is it estimated that5.9 million people drink to get drunk. Males and females aged 18 to 24 are our priority in this campaign as they are the most likely to drink irresponsibly.

"We are not trying to demonise alcohol or stop people enjoying themselves. This is about encouraging young people to still have a good time but to know their limits, and to take responsibility for how much they drink. "Drinking too much alcohol alters your judgement and perception and can lead to people taking risks with their health and safety that they would never normally even consider while sober.

"This high profile advertising campaign will support the actions that the Government is taking to tackle the problem of alcohol related harm and we hope it will help create a culture where drinking responsibly is the norm. "We need to get the responsible drinking message across as 80 per cent of pedestrian deaths on Friday and Saturday nights are drink related and nearly three quarters of peak time A & E admissions are alcohol related. "Home Office Minister Vernon Coaker said: "We all have the right to enjoy a few drinks with friends and family but in doing so we have a duty of care to behave responsibly and not risk the safety and wellbeing of ourselves or other people.

"People who drink to excess put themselves in unnecessary danger and have to live with the consequences of their actions, whether that's being arrested, an £80 fine or the unpleasant prospect of physical harm.

"This new £4 million advertising campaign illustrates the consequences people could face for drinking to excess. I want people to continue enjoying their nights out but urge them to drink sensibly to avoid situations that could result in police involvement, injury or worse.

"The Government is dedicated to reduce alcohol related harm and will continue to work with the police to clamp down on irresponsible drinkers and retailers while strengthening our partnerships with the alcohol industry to entrench responsible alcohol sales."

Srabani Sen, CEO of Alcohol Concern said: "We're delighted to see the launch of this campaign. Alcohol Concern has long argued that messages promoting sensible drinking need to be actively promoted and designed with specific groups in mind if they are to have any impact. This is especially true of16-24 year olds, where binge drinking is widely considered to be a 'rite of passage' into adulthood.

"This campaign marks an important starting point in changing young people's attitudes to binge drinking but there's still a great deal more to do if we're to change the way young people in this country think about their relationship with alcohol."

David Poley, Chief Executive of The Portman Group said: "Drinks companies have no wish to see their products misused by binge drinking young adults. We therefore warmly welcome this Government campaign which complements thee ducational work already carried out by the industry". Professor Ian Gilmore, President of the Royal College of Physicians, said:

"This launch is really important. If we can start to change young people's drinking patterns, there is a chance that we may begin to turn the tide of escalating cirrhosis deaths that we are currently seeing in people in their30s and 40s."

Department of Health

Alcoholics praise AA

Editor's note: Alcoholics Anonymous' long-standing policy is that the names of its members cannot be revealed to the media. Therefore, Brian and Don's last names have been withheld from this article.

At his lowest, Brian was guzzling a case of beer a day.

Put a drink in front of him and he'd finish it and ask for another. Then another, and another and another, until he was either cut off, passed out or arrested.

From the age of 14, when alcohol first crossed his lips, to 42, when he finally recognized he had a problem, Brian just couldn't get enough booze. And it nearly killed him.

Now 67, he talks about his struggle with alcoholism with the ease you'd expect of a man 20 years on the wagon. But not with the distance you may imagine.

Ask him about his years of drinking and he'll tick-off plenty of the philosophies that have made Alcoholics Anonymous such a success since it was founded in 1935. He's also sure to throw in a few anecdotes, like one recent outing he had with his nephew.

"We went fishing," he explained in his gravelly baritone. "They had some beers out there with them. They asked me if it was OK and I said, 'Sure, you're not the one with the problem.' But they came back in with five or six beers left, and I couldn't believe it. As an alcoholic I couldn't believe they didn't finish them all."

Brian hasn't touched a drop in two decades, sure, but he's an alcoholic. Always will be.

But AA has given him the strength, network and means to stay sober.

"I never knew how good water tasted until I stopped drinking," he'll say with a sarcastic grin, but he's serious. Drinking cost Brian his job, his wife and eventually his health.

"The '60s and '70s are just gone to me. I drank them away," he said.

Brian's friend and fellow AA member, Don, explained when alcohol takes control, a person's life often becomes unmanageable.

"All the time I drank, I always thought I could get over it. Alcohol would give me a sense of well-being, but I would be in trouble at home. I would call my wife and tell her I was on my way home, but six hours later I'd still be at the bar," he said. "You become so selfish that your whole life is wasted."

For Brian, alcohol became a slippery slope. At first, he would confine his drinking to after work and on the weekends. But one day he found he could get away with more.

"I finished work early one day, so I started drinking at 4:30," he explained. "Then it was 4, then 3:30. Eventually I'd stop in at Shaeffer's at 9 a.m."

Don said no one can make a person want to quit drinking, they need to want it for themselves. And it was only when a doctor told Brian he was going to die if he didn't cut out the booze — that his liver had reached its breaking point and could take no more — that he decided it was time for a change.

"It has nothing to do with willpower. If it had to do with willpower, believe me, I would have quit a long time ago. Most alcoholics are intelligent. We're not stupid," said Brian. "Alcohol is cunning, baffling and powerful."

Both Brian and Don agree that Alcoholics Anonymous has given them a new lease on life. A place in their lives that was once consumed with alcohol is now filled with hope and possibilities.

Said Don, "A person in recovery gets back all of their facilities, that's the beauty of it. Doing what we're doing (with AA) is helping us. We're helped by helping others. That's what this is all about."

And their own experiences, combined with years of talking to fellow alcoholics, has given them an understanding about alcoholism that few others share. They know it's a disease and not merely a bad habit.

"It's a physical allergy, so that once you stop you can never drink again. Once you do, the allergy comes back, and you wake up the tiger again," Don said. "You're never cured."

The men asserted 10 percent of the drinking population will succumb to alcoholism. Some, like Brian, are born alcoholics.

"From day one, at 14, I felt the same about booze as I did at 41: give me another," he said.

But others can drink themselves into alcoholism, explained Don. He said those steeped in drinking culture, such college students involved in fraternity life, may be at a higher risk.

Having seen the bleak shadows at the bottom of the barrel, Brian and Don know how far down alcohol can take a life. They've touched the dregs and have come back up for air.

And though they recognize there's no perfect solution, they believe AA is a powerful tool.

"Alcoholics Anonymous is there to help people get their lives back together," said Don. "We want to let people know there is a way, there is help out there"

The Daily Item

100,000 alcoholics claim allowances

More than 100,000 drug addicts and alcoholics are being paid incapacity benefit every week, it has been reported.

The Daily Telegraph states the number of people claiming they cannot work and are receiving benefits because of drug abuse and alcoholism has doubled in nine years.

It says claimants are paid £78.50 a week, roughly £20 more than they would get on Jobseekers' Allowance.

Government figures show 48,960 people were on incapacity benefit and severe disablement allowance because the "primary diagnosis" was that they were alcoholics, compared to 27,100 in 1997.

A further 48,530 claimants receive the weekly payments because their primary diagnosis is drug abuse. Nine years ago this figure was 21,900.

The figures were uncovered by Shadow Work and Pensions Minister David Ruffley MP through parliamentary questions.

He told the Telegraph: "These latest figures show that those trapped in dependency are not getting the support they need. This is not good for those who want to get off welfare and into work; nor is it good for the taxpayer."

A spokesperson for the Department for Work and Pensions said: "For the first time the number of people claiming incapacity benefit is falling and this is due to the pilots and new approaches that have been adopted over recent years such as Pathways to Work.

"We are building on schemes such as those in order to help lift one million people off benefits and into work. However, this figure illustrates why we are bringing forward changes to the benefits system through the Welfare Reform Bill.

"The focus of the Employment and Support allowance will be about the work individuals can do rather than their eligibility for receiving a benefit."

ic Uxbridge

Acid and alcohol don't mix

It should be obvious: giving LSD to an alcoholic in the hope of curing them is a very, very bad idea. But various newspapers this week appear not to agree. For instance, we've got the Independent claiming "LSD helps alcoholics put down the bottle" and Metro stating, "LSD can help alcoholics quit drink".

They're alluding to the just-released findings of Erika Dyck, a professor of the history of medicine at the University of Alberta, who recently revisited the subject (and subjects) of a four decades old research study by British psychiatrist Humphrey Osmond, who experimented with giving alcoholics a single dose of LSD in a bid to cure their illness.

Although Osmond's study was dismissed with skepticism, Dyck has now presented her findings in an academic journal, Social History of Medicine, claiming that "the LSD experience appeared to allow the patients to go through a spiritual journey that ultimately empowered them to heal themselves".

On the eve of being twelve years sober, reading this dangerous drivel makes me shake my head in disbelief. While in the throes of alcoholism, I experimented with LSD twice. The first time, I spent a night plagued by terrifying hallucinations. The second, I was found unconscious by friends, with a razor blade by my side and some badly bleeding cuts on my left arm. To this day, I have no recollection of what happened that night. Botched suicide attempt? Messy act of self harm? Either way, the consequences could have been fatal.

I still have scars on my arm from that night as a stark reminder of a lucky escape. So no, Erika Dyck, in taking LSD while sick with alcoholism, I did not go through a spiritual journey that ultimately empowered me to heal myself. And considering how many alcoholics use drugs and vice versa, the idea of treating alcoholism with a street drug is preposterous.

The problem with alcoholism is that it is an illness; accordingly, the medical field perpetually seeks to find a "cure" that will tidily put an end to it.

One typical longstanding treatment is to prescribe alcoholics with Antabuse in a bid to break the cycle of physical dependence. The active ingredient of Antabuse is disulfiram, which interferes with the way the body breaks down alcohol; if you drink alcohol while taking the drug, you become violently sick.

When I was nineteen, my psychiatrist put me on a course of the drug. It was presented to me as a quick-fix solution, and addicts of all kinds worship the concept of the quick-fix; but I found it useless. Instead of finding the chemical deterrent a helpful barrier to drinking, I perversely found myself craving alcohol even more intensely than before. Ten days into taking it, I couldn't stand the craving, and without consulting my psychiatrist took myself off the drug. I went straight back to drinking. Antabuse didn't work for George Best, and it didn't work for me.

Then there's Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). Some believe that AA is the only cure for alcoholism, but for many recovering alcoholics that's simply not true. Although I went to a handful of meetings during the first two years of my sobriety, the 12 step program and herd mentality never really clicked for me.

AA people used to hit me with scaremongering quips like "AA's the only way" and "if you don't come here, you'll go back to drinking". I'd think: I'm not looking for another crutch, thank you. In the end, my problem with AA is that I don't believe in any form of prescriptive lifestyle - and that's exactly what AA offers.

And AA doesn't click for a lot of other people either. The cure for alcoholism isn't group meetings or drugs: it's for the alcoholic to genuinely want to stop drinking. That's why George Best is dead and I'm still here. Nobody and nothing can stop an alcoholic from drinking except the resolute decision of the individual.

I didn't stop when family, friends, girlfriends, work colleagues, psychiatrists and counselors pleaded with me to get help. I didn't stop when I started spitting up blood, having to leave work early because of the previous night's drinking, when my hands trembled at breakfast, when I started having blackouts or when I started regularly vomiting blood.

No, I stopped when I vomited a scary amount of blood, started hallucinating flocks of blue birds flying around my bedroom after a day and a half without a drink, was shaking head to toe and couldn't stand up because I was so sick. I stopped when I was admitted into A&E at the age of 24 with internal bleeding. I stopped when I found myself lying in a hospital bed, terrified that I was going to die.

Erika Dyck should forget about LSD or any other quick-fix "cures". If an alcoholic doesn't want to stop drinking, then it's a lost cause.

Guardian Unlimited

'Workers Suffer 17 Million Hangovers A Year'

Hungover workers have taken 17 million "sickies" in the last 12 months as binge drinking now accounts for more than one-in-seven of all sick days, a new report reveals.

Health experts warned the proportion of sick leave caused by hangovers has more than tripled in the last three years as boozing costs the economy £6.4 billion each year through absenteeism (£1.8 million), replacing staff (£2.1 billion) and premature death (£2.5 billion).

They say 17 million working days were lost over the last 12 months because employees were too hungover to come to work, and hangovers accounted for 15 per cent of absences.

Young, poorly-educated men who are single or divorced and suffer from stress or depression are the most likely to become alcoholics, according to the report.

Frank Soodeen, a spokesman for Alcohol Concern, said: "Men aged 16 to 24 are most likely to drink because they're still growing up and then suddenly they're allowed to drink.

"I think parents aren't encouraging children to think about what their relationship with alcohol should be, and then suddenly they have access to it.

"It also has to do with how people socialise. If they have a partner, there will be evenings at home, and they won't be out every night drinking."

Among men, landlords and bar staff are the most likely to die from drinking-related accidents and diseases such as cirrhosis and liver cancer. Other professions at high risk are doctors, those who work at sea, lawyers, soldiers and cooks.

Among women, those in artistic or literary professions are most at risk, followed by bar staff and hairdressers.

Mr Soodeen said: "There are a variety of reasons that drinking has increased. The key factor is that women are drinking more because they are now part of the workplace and they have money to spend on alcohol.

"We develop social contacts by drinking, and it's part of working culture. We are all leading very stressful lives, partly because of our jobs, and alcohol is a way that some people try to alleviate that.

"It's not limited to certain people, it's spread across different groups, so it can affect anyone. It's a pretty universal thing."

Working conditions that contribute to heavy drinking include long hours, high risk of injury, tight deadlines and job insecurity.

At least 10 per cent of accidents in the workplace are directly caused by a worker being too drunk or hungover to function properly.

Mr Soodeen said: "I think one of the key things in dealing with a colleague or employer who has a drink problem is for the person who tries to intervene to approach the person in a supportive way. We live in a culture that is very comfortable with drinking but very uncomfortable with alcoholism.

"It denotes a lack of control, and we like to think that we're in control of our lives, so to admit dependency is difficult."

He added: "The problem is that we all agree that there's nothing wrong with drinking moderately, but we don't appreciate the factors that drive people to drink more. It can be to keep a sense of boredom or unhappiness away, and that dissatisfaction can be caused by our jobs.

"I do think people drink more in the UK because people really aren't aware of the long term impact you can have on your health. People know if they smoke you run the risk of health problems, but alcohol is still seen as innocuous.

"Binge drinking does have a huge impact on your long and short term health. A high number of casualty admissions are alcohol related. People who drink and smoke run a huge risk of neck cancers like throat cancer.

"The good news is that with many conditions they can be mitigated if you stop drinking completely, but no-one wants to do that.

"The recommended limits of three units a day for women and four for men are the levels at which alcohol doesn't have an impact on your health. People who say they need more than that to get an effect from alcohol do have a problem."

National News

'Workers Suffer 17 Million Hangovers A Year'

Hungover workers have taken 17 million "sickies" in the last 12 months as binge drinking now accounts for more than one-in-seven of all sick days, a new report reveals.

Health experts warned the proportion of sick leave caused by hangovers has more than tripled in the last three years as boozing costs the economy £6.4 billion each year through absenteeism (£1.8 million), replacing staff (£2.1 billion) and premature death (£2.5 billion).

They say 17 million working days were lost over the last 12 months because employees were too hungover to come to work, and hangovers accounted for 15 per cent of absences.

Young, poorly-educated men who are single or divorced and suffer from stress or depression are the most likely to become alcoholics, according to the report.

Frank Soodeen, a spokesman for Alcohol Concern, said: "Men aged 16 to 24 are most likely to drink because they're still growing up and then suddenly they're allowed to drink.

"I think parents aren't encouraging children to think about what their relationship with alcohol should be, and then suddenly they have access to it.

"It also has to do with how people socialise. If they have a partner, there will be evenings at home, and they won't be out every night drinking."

Among men, landlords and bar staff are the most likely to die from drinking-related accidents and diseases such as cirrhosis and liver cancer. Other professions at high risk are doctors, those who work at sea, lawyers, soldiers and cooks.

Among women, those in artistic or literary professions are most at risk, followed by bar staff and hairdressers.

Mr Soodeen said: "There are a variety of reasons that drinking has increased. The key factor is that women are drinking more because they are now part of the workplace and they have money to spend on alcohol.

"We develop social contacts by drinking, and it's part of working culture. We are all leading very stressful lives, partly because of our jobs, and alcohol is a way that some people try to alleviate that.

"It's not limited to certain people, it's spread across different groups, so it can affect anyone. It's a pretty universal thing."

Working conditions that contribute to heavy drinking include long hours, high risk of injury, tight deadlines and job insecurity.

At least 10 per cent of accidents in the workplace are directly caused by a worker being too drunk or hungover to function properly.

Mr Soodeen said: "I think one of the key things in dealing with a colleague or employer who has a drink problem is for the person who tries to intervene to approach the person in a supportive way. We live in a culture that is very comfortable with drinking but very uncomfortable with alcoholism.

"It denotes a lack of control, and we like to think that we're in control of our lives, so to admit dependency is difficult."

He added: "The problem is that we all agree that there's nothing wrong with drinking moderately, but we don't appreciate the factors that drive people to drink more. It can be to keep a sense of boredom or unhappiness away, and that dissatisfaction can be caused by our jobs.

"I do think people drink more in the UK because people really aren't aware of the long term impact you can have on your health. People know if they smoke you run the risk of health problems, but alcohol is still seen as innocuous.

"Binge drinking does have a huge impact on your long and short term health. A high number of casualty admissions are alcohol related. People who drink and smoke run a huge risk of neck cancers like throat cancer.

"The good news is that with many conditions they can be mitigated if you stop drinking completely, but no-one wants to do that.

"The recommended limits of three units a day for women and four for men are the levels at which alcohol doesn't have an impact on your health. People who say they need more than that to get an effect from alcohol do have a problem."

National News

Rise in 'home drinking' continues

Britain's alcohol consumption fell last year for the first time since 1998, according to the British Beer and Pub Association.

Worryingly for pubs the BBPA says the trend for off-sales and home drinking also continues to rise.

The trade body has just published its Statistical Handbook 2006 – an industry bible of facts and figures.

The latest edition says UK alcohol consumption per head dipped by 1.6% last year - the first item there has been a fall in annual consumption in six years

It also found beer remains Britain's favourite alcoholic drink, accounting for 43% of the market.

The steady shift away from 'on-trade' sales has continued, with 41 % of Britain's beer now bought in shops and supermarkets.

In 2000, the figure was 33% and in 1998, 30%.

Mark Hastings, director of communications at BBPA, said: "Our drinking patterns are certainly changing, though the numbers show a fall in total consumption on the previous year, it is the increase in drink bought for consumption at home that tells the real story of the nation's changing drinking habits.”

The handbook also compares drinking across Europe and says the UK Government continues to enjoy “very healthy tax” revenues from the alcohol sector, with income from excise duties and VAT reaching nearly £14 billion in 2005/2006.

Taxes on Britain's beer alone raised £6 billion.

On a 'pence-per-pint' basis across the European Union, UK beer is out-taxed only in Finland and Ireland, and is over three times the EU average.

Even in Sweden, duty rates do not exceed those in the UK.

On the final price of a typical British pint, taxes account for 31%.

Hastings said: ”With the Handbook highlighting the enormous variety of drinking habits and tax regimes across the European Union, this certainly raises questions for Brussels over the viability of an EU alcohol policy."

Morning Advertiser

New study shows more Czech women have an alcohol abuse problem

Czech doctors are ringing the alarm: the number of women alcoholics has doubled over the past ten years. In 2005 close to 3,000 women entered Czech clinics with an alcohol abuse problem and medical studies reveal that the increase of problem drinking in the female population is much sharper than that among males.

Last week a woman judge was dismissed from her post for not turning up to preside over an important court hearing. She was found in a drunken stupor in an entirely different courtroom. She is one of a growing number of Czech women who turned to alcohol as a means of escape from personal problems. A study just published by the Bohnice Clinic for Alcohol Abuse says the trend of alcohol abuse among women, which dates back to the 1970s, has risen sharply in the past 10 years, presenting a serious threat to women's health.

"Earlier it was very rare to see women consuming alcohol -for example drinking beer. Now it is very common especially among the younger generation, let's say people below the age of 30. The social norms which prevented women from drinking in public are no longer there. Society has accepted the fact that women drink and as a result women drink more frequently than in the past and they drink larger amounts of alcohol. But we have to keep in mind that the effects of alcohol are much more powerful in a woman's body."

Dr. Csemy says the pattern in female alcohol abuse is the same: social drinking turns into secret drinking when women feel they are unable to cope with life's demands and problems. Two glasses of wine in the evening to sooth one's nerves are replaced by a shot of vodka - and soon by several glasses. However - due to their body structure - women are far more at risk than men. The alcohol in their body does more harm sooner and they become dependent at a much earlier stage.

The growing problem of alcohol abuse among women dates back to the early 1970s and mirrors the situation elsewhere in Europe. Yet unlike other European states the Czech Republic has yet to acknowledge the problem and focus on prevention rather than consequences. Dr. Csemy again:

"Alcohol dependence and drug dependence is heavily influenced by genetic factors but whether you become an abuser is largely dependant on the environment you live in, so if we want to apply preventive measures we need to influence the behavior and attitudes of people. In the whole of Europe there is a rather effective program called Alcohol Action Plan and in the framework of this program, which is focused on the community and population level, some countries have succeeded in reducing alcohol consumption and alcohol related problems -especially France and Italy. Unfortunately the Czech Republic is not among those successful countries and the main causes are lack of experienced professionals in the field of prevention and lack of financial sources for preventive measures. So unfortunately, what we are doing in the Czech Republic is that we are treating the adverse consequences of heavy and unhealthy drinking habits. "

Although the Bohnice clinic does excellent work in helping alcoholics Dr. Csemy says that people should seek help much earlier. The clinic is now trying to establish a prevention program together with GPs who should be the first to spot a problem and advise their patients to get help. However in many cases the stigma attached to alcoholics makes people deny there's anything wrong.

"There is no stigma attached to being a diabetic or even a psychiatric patient suffering from depression. However problems with drugs or alcohol abuse are viewed by society as a flaw of personality or character, so the stigma attached to these problems is very strong and it is one of the barriers which stands in the way to seeking an early cure."

As doctor Csemy says the medical treatment of alcoholics takes several months but the healing process generally takes years. In this the clinic is happy to cooperate with Alcoholics Anonymous, an NGO which found its way to the Czech Republic in 1990.

"Alcoholics Anonymous is very active in this country. They have help groups and meetings not just in Prague but in other Czech towns and cities and I would say that the work of this NGO is very effective. Unfortunately we have only a small number of such organizations and what we would need is more organizations which would be concerned about the very high level of per capita alcohol consumption in our country. Such an influence is missing in Czech society which is very liberal towards alcohol consumption and which accepts drinking - and even excessive drinking - as the norm."

Radio Prague

Critics find overhaul of Italy's drinking laws hard to swallow

A government proposal to raise Italy's legal age for buying alcohol from 16 to 18 is going down like a corked wine with bar owners, scientific experts and some critics in the very government that came up with the idea.

To the surprise of restaurant, bar and nightclub proprietors who think they should have been consulted beforehand, the proposal was included in the draft 2007 budget issued this week by the centre-left government of Romano Prodi, prime minister.
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Article 90 of the budget sets fines of €3,000-6,000 for anyone caught selling alcohol to people under 18, a punishment that seems intended to deter late-night teenage drinking that sometimes leads to traffic accidents. The article also foresees a complete ban on the sale of alcohol at motorway service stations and restaurants.

Livia Turco, health minister, said the measure would align Italy with other European Union countries. In fact, the legal age for purchasing most or all types of alcohol in France, Germany and several smaller countries is 16, though it is 18 in the UK and 21 in the US.

Some members of Mr Prodi's coalition say they knew nothing in advance about the proposals on drink, and they will fight to get them removed from the budget before it receives final parliamentary approval by the end of December.

"It sends a repressive and prohibitionist message to young people, and it could have the opposite effect to that intended - making the abuse of alcoholic drinks more attractive," said Gennaro Migliore, a communist legislator.

Also frothing with indignation is the Italian Federation of Trading Concerns (Fipe), a group representing 80,000 bars and cafés, 60,000 restaurants, 20,000 pizzerias, 7,000 nightclubs and discotheques, and numerous other spots favoured by teenagers.

"I wonder if it's really true that you can change people's lifestyles with prohibition," said Lino Stoppani, Fipe's president.

Many critics have pointed out that Italians learn to drink moderate amounts of wine or beer at a relatively young age - under 14 - because of the tradition of leisurely family meals at the weekend in restaurants.

"What are we doing? Are we forbidding 16-year-olds or 17-year-olds from drinking a beer in a pizzeria? If so, things will go as they did in the 1970s in England, where lads waited outside pubs for their friends to bring them something to drink," said Professor Enrico Tempesta of the Rome-based Permanent Observatory on Youth and Alcohol.

It is widely recognised in Italy, however, that the high level of traffic accidents is related to alcohol consumption. About 200 Italian teenagers die every year as a result of accidents involving drinking and driving.

Nevertheless, the budget's proposals on alcohol seem in apparent conflict with the much more liberal approach that some government ministers are considering on drug use.

Paolo Ferrero, social solidarity minister, says he plans to reverse the existing law, passed by Italy's former centre-right government, which made it a criminal offence to possess all but the smallest amounts of marijuana and cocaine.

Financial Times

Researchers warn of nation of binge drinkers

A 'culture of intoxication' has taken hold across the UK, Lancashire university researchers have warned.
Members of Lancaster University's criminology team found people under the age of 25 are going to pubs and clubs fully intending to end up very drunk.

A survey of 351 drinkers found most had drunk far more than the recommended daily limit – and were officially binge drinkers.

The study also found little gap between men and women when it comes to heavy drinking.

When interviewed, the women had drunk an average of 5.7 units of alcohol and the men 9.6 units – enough to classify them as 'binge-drinkers' according to the UK definition of six units for women and eight for men.

Criminologist Dr Fiona Measham, who headed the research team, said: "There's a new culture of intoxication in relation to alcohol and illegal drugs in this country.

"People are going out to get drunk and it's this determined drunkenness which is now the norm.

"What they drink – shots, alcopops and cocktails – has changed so you can drink quicker and faster."

When asked how drunk on a scale of one to five boozers in Manchester felt they were, both men and women rated themselves at 1.8 early in the evening but both sexes aimed to achieve a rating of 3.8 out of five by the end of the night.

Preston Today

Banking on the booze

Justin, a 34-year-old broker, knows only too well how ruinous working in the City can be, with its relentless culture of lavish entertainment and corporate camaraderie. “I’m out with clients three or four nights a week,” he says. “It’s easy to have five pints, plus a bottle or two of wine, in a night. The booze makes me feel more confident.” When Justin goes out with clients, they can easily spend more than the average monthly salary in one night. Recently, at a top London restaurant, he and three other men ran up a bill of £2,700, which included bottles of St-Estèphe 1978 and Vega Sicilia 1990, both costing hundreds of pounds, and a Rémy Martin cognac that costs nearly £200 a shot. Playing at being a wine buff, admits Justin, gives him an aura of sophistication that makes him feel he’s in no danger of becoming a binge drinker.

“For a long time, I didn’t want to admit there was anything wrong,” he says. “Everyone I work with has a similar lifestyle, so I thought of it as normal. You just keep pace. I began to want a drink earlier and earlier in the day, until one day, I was getting my morning latte and found myself wishing it was time for my first glass of red. One guy on my team used to sip whisky from a hip flask before a stressful negotiation. It started as an office joke, but eventually I got one, too. I thought I was okay because I often had alcohol-free days. It was only when my girlfriend told me I had to stop for a month — and by the third day, I was sweating and shaking — that I realised I had a problem. She told me to seek help or she would finish with me, so I went to an addiction counsellor.” So far, though, Justin has been unable to quit.

“The drink does affect my health, although I don’t get bad hangovers. I get puffed out easily. I used to jog and play five-a-side football, but I can’t any more. My sex life has suffered too — I just don’t have the inclination. When I get home after seeing clients, I fall into bed and sleep. At the weekend, I’m irritable and end up arguing with my girlfriend. I wouldn’t be surprised if she soon decides she’s had enough. The only way I could stop would be to change profession — but I can’t think of another job that would pay even half as much.”

Alcoholics Anonymous holds up to 22 meetings a week across the City of London and has just opened a branch in Canary Wharf to meet increasing demand. A spokesman for AA says there were “substantially fewer” meetings a decade ago, reflecting the current increase in demand sweeping through investment banks and firms of brokers, traders, lawyers and accountants.

Helen Symons, of the charity Alcohol Concern, says: “We’re very aware of a big drinking culture across the financial areas of London. There’s the feeling that people who go to posh restaurants with colleagues or clients and order lots of expensive wine don’t have a problem, because it’s all so civilised. They see drinking a bottle or two of wine each as different to the tramp on the park bench drinking cans of strong lager. But really, it’s the same — it’s not how much the alcohol costs that matters, but how much you drink.”

The clinical hypnotherapist Georgia Foster says about a third of her clients — mostly professionals and financial types — have alcohol-related problems. “Drinking in the City is like a sport, although the consequences are swept under the carpet,” she says. “Some of my clients can easily drink a bottle of wine at lunch and another after work. We all have an inner anxiety — I call it our inner critic — that tells us we’re not doing things well. Alcohol suppresses that and gives us confidence. The problem is the inner critic comes back, stronger and fiercer, when you sober up, so you drink even more to bolster your confidence, and the cycle continues. It’s all too easy to get into this sort of situation — it can happen to any of us — and unless you get help or sort it out, it can easily wreck your life.”

One broker who has recently become sober points out that the City has a culture where non-drinkers are viewed as social pariahs. “Since I put an end to my two-bottle lunches,” he says, “I’ve noticed I’m often the last to know about what’s going on. The City thrives on gossip for making and breaking deals and getting new clients. I’m not out there at 11am drinking with the other brokers, and it’s affecting my job.”

He points out that Blackberries and wi-fi connections allow people to drink while they work: “They can carry on their negotiations from the comfort of their favourite bars. Their line managers don’t care — half the time, they’re drinking with them. As long as the deals get done, everyone is happy. There’s no getting any sense out of them in the afternoon — on Fridays, especially, it’s carnage.”

Dr Neil Brener, medical director of the Priory Hospital, practises in the City, where, he says, alcohol-dependency is rife. “High-performing alcoholics appear to be successful,” he says. “Yet they hide the extent of their problems from themselves and others. They are really in denial, and are often the last to admit there’s a problem with alcohol, despite what their friends and family tell them.”

He observes that many of his City clients end up with drink problems due to working in a culture that normalises excess: “People often say, ‘I don’t drink more than my colleagues,’ but it’s not the quantity you drink, it’s how the drinking behaviour affects you that matters. One man I saw drank three bottles of vodka a day, and I’ve seen a few City people who put away a bottle of vodka or whisky a day and continue to hold down a job and a life.”

Brener typically sees new patients when they have reached the crisis point of no longer being able to work. They usually attribute this to stress rather than problem-drinking. “It can be hard for these people to accept they have a problem,” he says. “Sometimes, when I raise the subject of their drinking, they storm out of my office, although many come back eventually. It’s all about cracking the denial.”

DO YOU HAVE A PROBLEM

# Revised government guidelines state that men should not exceed three or four units of alcohol per day. Calculating the units in a glass of wine can be particularly hazardous — one unit is just a small, 125ml glass of 8% abv wine.

# If you can’t go for a day without a drink, you have a problem. Signs include using alcohol to cope with problems, feeling guilty after a drinking bout and missing work or turning up late.

# Alcohol-abusers often get angry or upset if anyone comments on their high levels of drinking, may have lost friends as their problem continues and will feel more at ease around other people when drinking.

# If you’ve been in trouble with the police because of alcohol- related behaviour, or have to borrow or steal money to pay for drinks, you’re probably at risk. Serious drinkers often need to drink ever-increasing quantities to get the effect they want, and may also have a family history of alcohol abuse.

# Anyone drinking a bottle of wine daily (or four to five pints) is likely to be jeopardising their health, work and home life.

HOW TO DEAL WITH IT

# If you are just in the habit of drinking a lot (rather than alcohol- dependent), the key is to cut down on the amount you drink and increase the number of days you go without drinking at all.

# Taking it a day at a time will help. Tell little white lies that help preserve your reputation or dignity, such as saying that you’ve got to pick the kids up in the car later that evening so have to stick to orange juice.

# The only solution for genuine alcoholics is to abstain completely — even the smallest drop can send them off the wagon. Intensive rehab treatment, such as at the Priory, can mean several months out of the office, but could be a life-saver.

Sunday Times

Kids - our kids - plunging alcohol down the hatch

Were enough parents suitably shocked to be reminded this week that so many offspring start downing alcohol as soon as they step into their teens? Many will have been. But possibly, maybe even probably, not enough of them. How many were moved to acquire a copy of an information booklet, titled "The Facts Masked by the Fun", on alcohol and young people, compiled by a fourth-year university pharmacy student, Maria Rita Agius, on the initiative of the Health Promotion Department?

The booklet was released along with the preliminary results of the 2006 Health Behaviour of School-Aged Children Study, which did not really reveal anything new other than that an alarmingly bad situation identified in 2002 is rapidly growing worse. According to Dr Mario Spiteri, director of the Department, they are believed to start experimenting with drink when they are 13 years old. As Dr Spiteri wryly put it to the media when the behavioural study results were released, the situation is going well beyond experimentation. (The Times, September 26)

The 2002 study had already shown a high incidence in the use of alcohol, particularly among 15-year-olds. At the first blush of shame the 2006 survey indicates that the trend is worsening, also among 11- and 13-year-olds. Early teenagers seem to be bingeing themselves silly more than ever before.

The 2006 study reveals a substantial increase in the number of 11-, 13- and 15-year-olds who indulge in alcohol compared to the same survey in 2002. A total of 21.5 per cent and 15.3 per cent of 13-year-old boys and girls respectively got drunk in the month prior to the study survey - nearly three times as many as four years ago.

The percentage of 11-year-olds who got drunk in the last 30 days before being surveyed was statistically insignificant four years ago. It has risen to just under one in ten of boys (9.7 per cent) and one in five of girls (4.9 per cent). The situation is three times as bad among 15-year-old boys and girls. Three in ten males in this category (29 per cent) and one in seven females (and 15.2 per cent) got drunk in the month covered by the 2006 survey.

Very probably, Health Promotion Department experts feel, the case of 13-year-olds, Malta will outdo the other 34 countries taking part in the study. It will top the list, and not just for 15-year-olds, who placed a worrying first in the 2002 survey when it came to the consumption of wines and spirits.

The preferences shown in the 2002 study repeated themselves in 2006: youngsters are mostly downing beer and wine. There tend to be more boys than girls who prefer beer. But close to half of 15-year-old young ladies surveyed for this year's study also have a predilection for beer.

Roughly just under half of 15-year-olds and a little over that of 13-year-olds love alcopops, which health experts believe whet the palate, so to put it, for real alcoholic beverages. Alcopops tend to be trendy designer drinks, young friends told me when I enquired, started becoming popular in the mid-Nineties.

An Alcohol Concern fact sheet records that alcopops appeared in the UK in the summer of 1995, after alcoholic lemonade was first sold in Australia. Research established that the peak age for drinking alcopops, some of which have an alcohol content of around five per cent, is 13 to 16.

It would not be wild to assume that the patterns noted abroad also apply to Malta. The local health study found that the percentage of youths who drank alcopops in Malta has increased. Over half of 15-year-olds and close to half of 13-year-olds drink them.

The preliminary results of the Malta survey will be analysed more deeply. It will be sent abroad to be compared to the other 34 participating countries taking part in a similar surveys. It is clear to the Health Promotion Unit that Malta does not follow southern Mediterranean trends when it came to alcohol consumption. It is more on a par with northern European countries.

I referred to the 2006 study as a reminder because, earlier the situation had been bared in a report on 'Alcohol in Europe', by the London-based Institute of Alcohol Studies for the EU Commission. The report analysed the health, social and economic impact of alcohol in Europe. That report showed that the drinking habits of our young. Maltese 15-16-year-olds placed them among youths who drink most frequently and more than most in Europe.

The London institute study had drawn widespread worried reactions in the rest of Europe, but became far less than a matter of urgent and frequent critical discussion in Malta. I had commented (in a "Talking Point" in The Times) that it should send a shiver down the spine of our own society, but it did not stop early teenagers from reaching out for more.

Parents did not flood the newspaper's letter columns with expressions of concern. Nor was there any focus on the conclusions by the political class.

The London institute reported that Europe is one of the heaviest drinking regions in the world. Some 23 million persons - five per cent of males, one per cent of females - are dependent on alcohol. It recorded that alcohol kills about 115,000 persons annually, including 10,000 bystanders or passengers, and causes 2,000 murders. It leads to around 60 different types of diseases and conditions, and is responsible for 60,000 underweight births each year.

Up to nine million children live in families ravaged by alcohol. Of all ill-health and early death in the EU, 7.5 per cent is due to alcohol, at a cost of €125 billion (€650 per household, or 1.3 per cent of EU GDP).

Malta holds her glass as determinedly and unsteadily as some of the worst of the lot. Excessive drinking among adults aside, the London report confirmed signs in the Malta 2002 survey that the next generation was already heading that way as well. The EU report indicated that nearly all 15-16-year-old Maltese students have already drunk alcohol at some time in their young life.

The Maltese student respondents, on average, downed their first drinks before they reached 13, and became drunk for the first time by a year later. The experimentation referred to by Dr Spiteri in mid-week was there in to see, loaded with a heavy threat to civil society.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) had warned, over a year ago, that alcohol was the biggest regular killer of young men across Europe - over 55,000, aged between 15 and 19. WHO publishes an extensive database, including an alcohol profile for individual countries. The organisation said that an alcohol policy advocacy organisation did not exist here. There is no mandatory driver education/treatment for offenders, and no traditional temperance association. In contrast self-help movements were reported to be very active.

The picture that emerges from the various studies on the inclination of the young in particular towards excessive drinking is startling. It may not be as harrowing as that of spreading addiction to drug abuse. It may not be less dangerous. Enacting legislation to deter selling alcohol to early teenagers is a necessary step to take. It is by no means sufficient.

If, as with so many legal provisions, ongoing enforcement is weak, legislation will remain a dead letter demonstrating the uselessness of Parliamentary talk that does not lead to dynamic action.

Not even legislation that is enforced can be enough. As with everything else good personal and social behaviour depends to a very large extent on education, and on good example.

Adults might ask themselves whether their own attitude to drinking is correct. Whether they consistently ensure that, if they drink, they do so in a mature and responsible manner. As with smoking, adults are exhorted to behave with due regard to their own health, and to that of others.

Areas in which one can smoke are restricted, even if there too enforcement is not as strict as it ought to be. Drinking is usually left to the individual, up to the point when excessive drink leads to unacceptable behaviour.

The young require much more focused action, in the form of protection through enforcement of suitable policies and regulations regarding alcohol selling, in a context of early and ongoing education.

To teach one must first learn. Unless society asks the questions and learns what makes boys and girls experiment with drink when barely in their teens, and takes appropriate action on the basis of the answers, little will be achieved.

Observable causal factors include peer pressure and, less evidently since bad example by parents, older siblings and other adults are two observable causal factors. The question should also be asked: where do boys and girls in their early teens get the money to buy alcoholic drinks, even if mostly beer and wine?

Studies on behaviour patterns can pinpoint the errors of our ways from our early teens. The 2006 report and earlier studies do so starkly. Yet, it seems, not starkly enough to mobilise widespread concerted action to do much more than nod towards the problem through legislation.

The frightening details in the various reports that pinpoint the situation attract attention when the media reports them. There is little follow-through with ongoing public projection of them so as to engender deeper public consciousness about a grave problem that is very clearly escalating.

The Times