Doctors helping Drunk doctors

"You walked into the office and sat down. Did it ever cross your mind that I wasn't sober?"

Sitting in the quiet, bright office of a doctor, the question jarred me.

Dr. Graeme Cunningham is director of the addiction division at the Homewood Health Centre.

He answered his own question in his thick, Scottish accent, "of course it didn't," he said. "That's called the doctor-patient confidence."

But there was a time when a patient would have been justified in thinking the former cardiac specialist was drunk.

"It's horrifying, isn't it?" the 65-year-old said of his past alcoholism.

Cunningham is open about his struggles with alcohol and hopes his experience helps others.

He has worked at the Homewood for almost 20 years.

The centre specializes in treating a variety of addictions and mental illnesses. With in- and outpatient services, the world renowned centre treats more than 4,000 patients annually.

Cunningham councils addicts of all walks of life, but in 1990 he helped create one of the few addiction-recovery programs focused on health-care professionals in Canada.

The program is tailored to veterinarians, pharmacists, doctors and nurses. Annually, the Homewood treats 1,500 addicts as part of their in-patient program.

Only an estimated 30 of these are health-care professionals.

Several British studies suggest the incidence of alcoholism is higher among physicians than the general population but their research dates back several decades.

No recent information exists on the rates of drug and alcohol addiction among Canadian health-care professionals.

Since its inception, the Homewood estimates 1,000 nurses and 2,000 physicians have gone through the program.

A personal journey

"I went to medical school to be the very best doctor I could be and I became a drunk one," Cunningham said. "I'd have a few drinks at lunch time to settle my nerves and it wasn't because I was bad, but because I was ill."

He remembers trying to hide his addiction from his patients, colleagues and friends.

Addiction makes family life a frightening and lonely place for everyone, he explained.

"There's an elephant in the living room and no one's talking about it.

"The fantasy is that somehow, I'll only have a couple of drinks, despite the fact that time and time and time again I've run into problems," he said.

"This is the insanity of addiction that somehow, tomorrow I'll be OK."

Cunningham said he became "tired of being sick and tired" and checked into treatment in 1986.

"The first day I sat in treatment a lady came up to me and said, 'I'm your buddy here. I'm here to help,' " he recalled.

"I said 'I'm a doctor' and she said 'so am I.' By doing so, she gave me permission to be sick," he said.

It took Cunningham five years to recover. He realized then that few places catered specifically to the unique needs of health-care professionals.

He changed his career focus, becoming a researcher and counsellor at the Homewood.

When alcoholic doctors and nurses walk into Cunningham's office, the straight-talking man dispenses strong advice.

"Sober stands for 'Son of a Bitch Everything is Real,' " he said. "To the alcoholic the alcohol isn't the problem, it's the solution.

"We don't teach them about drinking," Cunningham said. "They're world-class, gold-medal users. But they know diddly squat about sobriety.

"Someone like me comes along, a bald Scot, and says, 'I'm an ex-drunk.' I give them permission to be wounded."

Under his care, addicts are steered toward support groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous.

"It takes an immense courage and a good support system to get better."

Cunningham said many doctors are hesitant to seek care from these groups because they see them as touchy-feely.

He said these programs work, however, because they focus on supporting people as they learn to live without drugs or alcohol.

By contrast, there are few medical schools in Canada teaching about addictions treatment, he said.

"What doctors are taught is liver damage, brain damage and heart damage. They are not taught about the primary illness of alcoholism and the treatment that works for alcoholics."

AA works on the principles of recovering alcoholics supporting fellow alcoholics. The group is free and has no affiliations.

The myth of religious affiliation is one reason some doctors may hesitate to recommend the group for themselves or their patients, according to AA.

Culture of acceptance

Cunningham said many professions, doctors included, have a culture of acceptance when it comes to alcohol.

"It's absolutely appropriate to have wine and cheese at a faculty meeting and go back to see patients," he said.

"We use alcohol continually and socially and that's OK -- except for the 10 per cent of the population who are alcoholics," he said. "And that 10 per cent are trying desperately to hide it, cover it up.

"Every professional training environment is one of 'don't let the bastards see you sweat,' " he said. "Get the best marks you can and pass your next exam."

Doctors who talk about their emotions are seen as weak and unprofessional, he said.

"I've worked in many hospitals across Ontario and I've not worked in anywhere I've been encouraged to talk about my health issues -- any -- no one wants to know," he said.

"In fact you're criticized," Cunningham said. "You're on call and if you can't do it you're seen as a wimp."

Supporting his assertion is the seeming dearth of immediately available information for doctors facing addiction or researchers interested in quantifying the problem.

The Canadian College of Physicians and Surgeons could offer no information on the subject and recommended contacting the Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons.

The function of the college, as listed on its website, is one of registering doctors, educating, investigation and quality assurance.

But the college offered scant information when approached, saying they do not keep track of that type of information.

"The college only gets involved if the physician isn't following their treatment program," spokesperson Kathryn Clarke said, adding there have been few hearings in recent years related to physicians with addictions.

However, she could not provide information on the number or precise nature of those hearings.

"They are not like disciplinary hearings because they are not open to the public . . . because they do concern issues of personal health," she said.

Doctors only human

Dr. Robert Ouellet, president of the Canadian Medical Association, said Canada can't afford to lose a single physician and as such the profession must take better care of its members' mental health -- and that includes addictions care.

The nature of the job means physicians can be vulnerable to addiction, he said.

"Doctors are human," he said. "Usually we hear doctors are God, but they are human.

"The job is very stressful," Ouellet said.

"Sometimes we make decisions in seconds with the life of someone in our hands.

"We want to be perfect and do the best for our patients," he said.

Doctors often work long hours and odd shifts. As a result, some doctors lean on prescriptions, he said.

"Drugs are more available to doctors than to other people."

The stigma attached to addiction and mental illness extends even more to doctors, Ouellet said.

In a survey done by the CMA, patients said they would have less confidence in their doctor if they knew he or she had a mental-health illness, including addiction.

"Part of the patient's treatment depends on confidence in the physician," he said.

"If the confidence is not there, part of the treatment is not there."

For Cunningham, his patients have confidence in his abilities because of his past battle.

He said he will continue talking about his recovery.

"I was a public drunk and so I'm happy to go public sober," he said.

"My greatest defect 30 years ago was my alcoholism and it's my greatest asset today," he said.

"The car I drive, the clothes I wear, are all there because of my alcoholism and my recovery."

Guelph Mercury

Forbidden fruit: learning to drink responsibly

Whether the legal drinking age is 18, 21 or something in between, at some point the odds are better than even that eventually a young adult is going to have that first drink. About 61% of American adults 18 or older said they've had alcohol in the last year, according to a 2006 national survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

For the most part, lessons in how to drink come through experimentation with excess, essentially trial and error, exploring how much can be consumed, as young people go through what has become a rite of passage to adulthood.

"It's a forbidden-fruit sort of thing," says Brenda Chabon, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Montefiore Medical Center, New York. "We haven't done a good job on educating kids. We kind of demonize alcohol on one hand and embrace it in another way."

With ignorance as a guide, the long-awaited rite of passage too often ends up with mangled cars and ruined lives.

But whose job is it to teach responsible drinking? Middle and high schools have their hands tied, says Robert Turrisi, professor of biobehavioral health at the Prevention Research Center at Pennsylvania State University. "School-based programs teach abstinence only," he says. "Schools can't legally teach how to do illegal behaviors."

Beginning in elementary school, students are given the simple message that drugs, including alcohol, are forbidden and bad, a message that often conflicts with what they see at home -- parents having a cocktail before dinner or a glass of wine with the meal. If statistics are proof, the anti-alcohol messages have little effect on kids' drinking. A CDC survey last year found that 45% of high school students drank some alcohol in the 30 days before the survey, 26% binge drank, 11% drove after drinking and 29% rode with a driver who had been drinking.

Once kids step on a college campus for the first time, they're surrounded by new freedoms and temptations. The largely ineffective "just say no" message is likely to go right out the window. So lessons in moderate and responsible drinking are up to parents and, increasingly, colleges.

Lessons from home

Parents and families have been the subject of Turrisi's studies. He's found in a 2000 study published in the journal Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, for example, that among 266 incoming college freshmen, what they learned at home affected the consequences they experienced after binge drinking. If, in questionnaires, they reported that they had learned that alcohol can be a social lubricant or transform them in good ways, they were more likely to suffer a blackout, headache or hangover or get into a fight or a regrettable sexual situation after heavy drinking. But if they learned at home that drinking was normal behavior, they were less likely to suffer those consequences, despite drinking too much.

Those who had fewer consequences from excess drinking were more likely to have talked to their mothers (the students were more likely to report talking to their mothers than to their fathers, Turrisi found) about such things as how drinking changes behavior, the importance of being able to improve mood without alcohol and the negative health consequences of alcohol abuse.

To help prevent future binges, or the worst consequences of binge drinking, Turrisi says, parents need to talk openly to kids about alcohol, throughout their lives. "Let them know that you understand the reasons why kids like to drink, but teach them the difference between drinking and binge drinking. And be prepared to answer questions about your own drinking behavior."

Those who are in favor of lowering the drinking age point to European cultures in which children are exposed to alcohol -- often in small, diluted quantities -- at early ages at family meals. They argue that drinking at home with parents teaches kids that alcohol is normal and reduces the odds that they'll overindulge when on their own.

But it's important to be sure what's meant by "drinking at home," according to a study in the October 2004 issue of the Journal of Adolescent Health. A survey of 6,200 teenagers in 242 U.S. communities found that the occasional glass of wine at a family dinner can have a protective effect. Kids who reported such moderate drinking at the family table were two-thirds less likely to have engaged in binge drinking in the two weeks before the survey.

But the study also found that parents who were oblivious to the drinking in their homes weren't doing their youngsters any favors. Teens who drank with peers at parties with an adult present were twice as likely to have engaged in binge drinking.

The college effect

Eventually, many of these almost-adults land on college campuses. Whether colleges like it or not, the ball is then in their court.

G. Alan Marlatt, director of the Addictive Behaviors Research Center at the University of Washington, has been focusing his research on helping students learn about alcohol, to (if they decide to drink) moderate their drinking and to drink without hurting themselves or others. He does the research in a campus laboratory designed to look like a dimly lit tavern. Students of legal drinking age get real alcohol; younger students get substitutes with little or no alcohol content, though they're often unaware of the substitution.

One study had actors come in and drink a lot, or a little. When the actors drank a lot, the student subjects drank a lot. When the actors drank moderately, so did the students. "If others around you are drinking just a little, you can bring it down," Marlatt said. The copycat effect was more pronounced with men than with women.

Students say they drink more when they feel stressed. So he had actors insult or annoy them in a "waiting room" outside the mock bar. Sure enough, when they were under stress, they drank more.

With that kind of information in hand, he began developing, with funding from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, programs to help college students control their drinking. Two of them, Basics and the Alcohol Skills Training Program, are available at many colleges and universities -- and some provide training to entire dormitories, sororities, fraternities and even whole incoming freshman classes.

In the Basics program, one-on-one counseling is offered to students at high risk of excessive drinking because of a family history of alcoholism or because they have reported drinking more than their peers in high school. In the Alcohol Skills Training Program, students at normal risk get group training. All of them learn what alcohol does to the body, how long it takes to feel its effects, how long it takes the body to be rid of the effects and how to be assertive in saying "no more." Marlatt has found that students in either program were able to reduce their drinking by 40% and maintain the reduction for two years after the program.

"We don't lecture. We say that drinking is like driving. It can be dangerous. It's a skill. You have to learn how it works," he said.

The approach, called harm reduction, has proved effective in reducing alcohol consumption and cutting down on consequences of drinking, according to a 2002 paper in Addictive Behaviors.

Parents sending their charges off to college can look for things that might discourage drinking, says Henry Wechsler, director of the College Alcohol Study at the Harvard School of Public Health. "Make sure there are other things to do, like arts or volunteer efforts," he says. Look for a town that offers recreational and productive outlets, not just block after block of taverns. Help your student choose carefully where to live. Some dorms have turned themselves into alcohol-free zones.

"Even in a heavily drinking college there are places where there is less drinking," he said. "And be very careful of going into a fraternity." That's because drinking rates are uniformly higher in the Greek system. Wechsler found in a 1995 study that students in sororities were almost twice as likely as non-sorority women to be binge drinkers. Fraternity members had the highest rates among college students, with 75% binge drinking, compared with 45% of non-fraternity college men.

Alcohol education from whatever source -- home, family or a formal program -- can help prevent tragedies like the one on the University of Washington campus in the spring of 2001. A student fell to his death off a seventh-floor balcony while drinking with friends. "He was 19, telling a funny story, gesticulating -- and off he went," Marlatt says. "His blood alcohol level was .28."

Los Angeles Times

Alcohol deaths common among American Indians

Alcohol-related causes such as liver disease and car crashes account for nearly 12 percent of American Indian and Alaska Native deaths, 3-1/2 times the figure for the overall population, officials said on Thursday.

Excessive drinking has long been a problem in these often-impoverished populations, as reflected in what the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention called the first national report tracking such alcohol-related deaths.

"Hopefully this serves as a constructive wake-up call not only for tribal communities but for the national government and state governments as well," Dr. Tim Naimi of the CDC and the U.S. government's Indian Health Service, one of the researchers involved in the report, said in a telephone interview.

CDC researchers analyzed death certificate data from 2001 to 2005. In that period, an average of 1,514 American Indians and Alaska Natives died due to alcohol-related causes a year.

Alcohol-related deaths accounted for 11.7 percent of the deaths of American Indians and Alaska Natives, compared to 3.3 percent in the U.S. general population, the CDC said.

Sixty-eight percent of these deaths were among men.

The report considered a range of alcohol-related deaths led by vehicle crashes and liver disease but also including murder, suicides, falls and various ailments.

Robert Holden, deputy director of the National Congress of American Indians, an advocacy group, said alcoholism in these populations is one of the many legacies of the destruction of Indian culture and communities.

Holden called on the federal government to provide more funding for Indian health programs overall and for programs aimed at countering alcohol abuse.

"Why is it that the average federal prisoner gets twice as much in health care dollars than Native American people do?" Holden asked in a telephone interview.

Naimi said alcohol abuse is the third-leading preventable cause of death among all Americans, behind smoking and the combination of over-eating and physical inactivity. "This is not a problem limited to one population," Naimi said.

"The good news is that there are lots of effective interventions to reduce alcohol misuse. ... Things like raising alcohol taxes, reducing hours of sale and enforcing widely ignored laws preventing sale of alcohol to intoxicated persons," Naimi said.

It is also important to ensure there are adequate alcohol counseling and treatment services for Indians, Naimi added.

Reuters

Sharp rise in alcoholism among Swedish women

Alcoholism among women in Sweden rose by 50 percent between 2003 and 2007 as beer, wine and spirits have become more accessible in the country long known for its restrictive alcohol policy, a report on Saturday said.

"The number of female alcoholics has risen from 65,000 to about 100,000 and the number of male alcoholics has risen from about 135,000 to about 165,000. One important reason is that it has become easier and cheaper to buy alcohol," a report written by the head of the Swedish National Institute of Public Health's alcohol and drug division showed.

Sweden, a country of nine million inhabitants, has an alcohol distribution monopoly, meaning that Swedes can only buy beer, wine and liquor at state-run outlets called Systembolaget. Only Systembolaget and wholesalers authorised by the state may import such drinks.

Sweden maintains that the monopoly, and high taxes on alcohol, are needed to protect public health.

But alcohol has nonetheless become more accessible in recent years.

"Reduced alcohol taxes, private imports from abroad and across the internet, longer opening hours at Systembolaget and an increase in the number of restaurants granted liquor licenses" have all contributed to the rise in alcoholism, said Sven Andreasson, the author of the report published in Sweden's newspaper of reference Dagens Nyheter.

Andreasson noted that while overall alcohol consumption in Sweden had remained stable in recent years, the number of alcohol poisonings, alcohol-related violence and drink driving cases were on the rise.

The numbers he presented in the report were "in line with" reports from the health sector which indicated an increase in the number of people seeking care for alcohol-related problems, he said.

AFP

12 percent of American Indian deaths alcohol-related

In the first-ever national survey of its kind, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has found that almost 12 percent of the deaths among American Indians are alcohol-related — more than three times the rate in the general U.S. population.

The CDC report, released Thursday, also found that the greatest number of alcohol-related deaths among Indians occurred in the Indian Health Service’s Northern Plains region, which stretches from Montana to Michigan and includes North Dakota and Minnesota. There was no breakdown by state or tribe.

Reservations in the Northern Plains region tend to be remote and include some of the most economically challenged in the nation, the CDC report said, factors that may contribute to the higher alcohol-related death rate.

Whatever the reasons for the problem, the report should be “a call to action” for federal, state, local and tribal governments, said Dwayne Jarman, one of the study’s authors and a CDC epidemiologist who works for the Indian Health Service.

In a telephone interview Thursday, Jarman recommended increased alcohol excise taxes to cut demand and more rigorously enforcing policies against serving people who already are intoxicated. “We also need to look at new community-specific ways to address the problem,” he said, as well as closer coordination between tribal health centers and tribal courts.

Accidents, disease

CDC researchers examined death certificates recorded from 2001 to 2005. Traffic accidents and alcoholic liver disease were the two leading causes of alcohol-related deaths, according to the report, each contributing about a fourth of the 1,514 deaths. Other causes included homicide and suicide.

The study may have undercounted alcohol-related deaths, according to the report, because it did not include deaths attributed to certain diseases, such as colon cancer, where alcoholism is considered a major risk factor.

About two-thirds of the Indians whose deaths were alcohol-related were men, and nearly two-thirds were younger than 50.

Seven percent were younger than 20.

The study results confirm previous findings that alcoholism remains a crippling problem on reservations despite development in recent years of “red road” recovery programs designed around Indian cultural values. It recommends further development of “culturally appropriate clinical interventions” and closer coordination between tribal health centers and tribal courts.

Spirit Lake, White Earth

Linda Duckwitz, a licensed addiction counselor at the Spirit Lake Indian Reservation, said the CDC statistics “are very troubling,” but “North Dakota in general is still in the cave when it comes to permissive attitudes toward binge drinking, drinking while driving and alcoholism.”

The Spirit Lake Tribe “is doing some creative things,” including relapse prevention and “equine therapy,” where young addicts in treatment work with horses, she said, but the programs are hampered by a lack of state funding for treatment programs that aren’t hospital-based.

At Minnesota’s White Earth Indian Reservation, a substance abuse program provides intervention and prevention services, diagnosis and referrals, manager Pat Moran said. The band also operates several outpatient and after-care sites on the reservation and an in-patient treatment center for women and their children in Mahnomen.

“Those numbers don’t surprise me at all,” Moran said Thursday after hearing about the CDC report. “We have a high rate of alcoholism on the reservation, and a majority of deaths here are related” to alcohol or other chemical abuse.

The White Earth program is “short-staffed and short-funded,” she said. “We’re always looking for more money to do more things.”

But the band is making progress, she said.

“I see people who are out walking who are in recovery,” she said. “I’m one of them.”

DL-Online

Assembly investigates youth drinking

The London Assembly is to investigate the extent of underage drinking and alcohol misuse by young people in the capital following growing alcohol-related hospital admissions involving young people.

The Assembly will look at the underlying causes of alcohol misuse by young people which is can increase the risk of having unsafe sex and ending up in trouble with the police.

The eventual report will aim to make recommendations on the best approach to tackle the problem and Assembly members are calling people of all ages to send in their opinions and experiences.

James Cleverly AM, Chair of the Health and Public Services Committee said: "Underage drinking and alcohol misuse by young people is already beginning to have serious repercussions on public health and young people’s life prospects, and will continue to do so for future generations unless something is done to tackle the problem."

Don Shenker, Chief Executive of Alcohol Concern described the Assembly’s investigation as "timely".

Shenker added that: "for many young people experimentation with alcohol is a natural part of the transition into adulthood. Unfortunately, and for a complicated mix of reasons, youthful curiosity can sometimes give way to more harmful drinking patterns."

Cleverly concluded: "We know that 1603 young people were admitted to London hospitals with alcohol-specific problems last year, but this is likely to be just the tip of the iceberg."

"Our investigation will uncover the true scale of the problem, and I encourage Londoners to help us do that by sending us their views on this issue."

MayorWatch

In concerns over drinking parties, parents turn to each other

You might not think that back to school season is prime time for underage drinking parties. But in one area county, experts tell us they're just as big a concern in September as it is during prom season in the spring.

Northern Berkshire County's Community Coalition is teaming up with parents to help them determine whether parents of their children's friends are on the same page when it comes to drinking parties and drug use in their homes.

Under the Safe Homes Parents' Pledge, parents agree not to allow teen parties in the home when adults are not present or to allow he illegal use of alcohol, tobacco or drugs by teens in the home.

The resource guide prints the names of parents who have taken the pledge, allowing other parents to gauge the attitudes of families whose homes their own children might visit.

Sarah Kline, a mother of 10- and 12-year old girls, says "there is definitely a comfort level" in knowing what other parents have pledged to keep their homes safe from underage drug and alcohol use.

She adds it opens a dialogue with her children that lets her talk to them about what her expectations of them and the consequences for bad behavior.

"We don't think parents communicate with each other as well as students do, so this is our attempt to help parents take it back," explains Al Bashevkin, executive director of the Northern Berkshire Community Coalition.

And yes, a committee does review the names of those who sign the pledge -- and if parents don't live up to it, their names can be taken off the list.

WRGB CBS 6 Albany

From an Alcohol Problem to Alcohol Rehab

If you or someone you know regularly drinks alcohol, there are questions that need addressed. At times do you feel you drink too much? In conjunction to that do you ever feel like you should cut back on drinking? Has the consumption of liquor and alcohol become a habitual daily practice? It is an escape from the realities of life in general? Is it something you or that person does to escape problems? If the answer to these questions is yes, chances are you have an alcohol problem of some level. It isn't an indicator of an alcoholic or a need for alcohol rehab, just that the drinking is a little excessive.

The truth is most people can socially drink with no ill effects. Alcohol as a depressant can help to relax and calm individuals. Social drinking is perfectly acceptable behavior for those who can hold their liquor per se. However excessive drinking often can be an indicator of a greater alcohol problem. There are many factors that make up an addiction. An alcohol problem is one of them. With the right social situations and emotional or psychological issues, the consumption of alcohol can become habitual and even controlling in nature.

An alcohol problem, or drinking too much, doesn't initially require alcohol or drug rehab. If people feel it is a problem simply cutting back can help immensely. Even the help of a local 12-step group or support meeting attendance can be helpful at cutting back on alcohol. Alcohol rehab is needed when you can’t cut back, and the body and mind need the drinks to maintain a normal function. Alcoholrehab is needed when the abuse of alcohol takes over other aspects of life like jobs, friends and family.

An addiction to alcohol is a struggle. It is something that only escalates out of control. Initially alcohol addiction can be as harmless as a simple excessive drinking, but can result into a life or death situation. Alcoholism is a chemical dependence to liquor. The body and mind cannot maintain any sense of function unless alcohol is in the system. It is an endless carving to drink that can not be quenched. At this point alcohol rehab can be critical. At this stage of addiction the only solution is to stop consumption completely. Alcoholism is a gradual process from the initial alcohol problem. It is however a quick descent with a difficult process of climbing out.

If alcohol rehab is needed, an inpatient facility can be beneficial. Inpatient facilities function as a safe haven away from the influences of alcohol. They are controlled environments where it's possible to get control of life again. Inpatient alcohol rehab can provide the answers to many of the difficult questions of why a person must drink to feel normal.

TransWorld News

London to investigate extent of underage drinking

The London Assembly are to investigate the extent of underage drinking and alcohol abuse by young Londoners.

The investigation, launched yesterday (Wednesday), will focus on the

underlying causes of alcohol misuse by young people and seek to make recommendations on how to tackle the problem.

The Assembly is calling people of all ages to send in their opinions and experiences.

Excessive drinking and alcohol-related hospital admissions by young people are a growing concern and among 35 European countries, the UK has the third highest proportion of 15 year olds (24 per cent) that have been drunk 10 times or more.

Alcohol abuse can lead to serious health and social problems with young people under the influence of alcohol more likely to have unsafe sex, injure themselves through taking risks, or end up in trouble with the police.

There are also strong links between patterns of drinking established as a teenager and alcohol dependency later in life that can lead to cirrhosis and liver disease.

Though there is already work being done in London to tackle alcohol misuse, there is no clear picture of just how big the problem is in the capital. The London Assembly committee will undertake in-depth data analysis and extensive engagement with young people that will be a valuable contribution to the debate.

Assembly Member James Cleverly, who is also Chair of the Health and Public Services Committee said: “Underage drinking and alcohol misuse by young people is already beginning to have serious repercussions on public health and young people’s life prospects, and will continue to do so for future generations unless something is done to tackle the problem.

“We know that 1603 young people were admitted to London hospitals with alcohol-specific problems last year, but this is likely to be just the tip of the iceberg. Our investigation will uncover the true scale of the problem, and I encourage Londoners to help us do that by sending us their views on this issue.”

Don Shenker, Chief Executive of Alcohol Concern said: “The Assembly’s decision to pursue a more detailed understanding of alcohol misuse by the capital’s youth is a timely one.

“For many young people experimentation with alcohol is a natural part of the transition into adulthood. Unfortunately, and for a complicated mix of reasons, youthful curiosity can sometimes give way to more harmful drinking patterns.

“By getting a street level sense of what motivates young Londoners to drink heavily we will be in a better position to plan a co-ordinated and effective response.”

Londra Gazete

Berkeley police to crack down on student drinking

Berkeley police announced the annual crackdown on underage drinking around UC Berkeley this week, courtesy of an $89,000 grant from the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control.

UC Berkeley Police reported a young woman was hospitalized Monday night after being hit in the head by a brick while attending a fraternity party on Piedmont Avenue where alcohol was being served.

The woman received stitches for a head laceration, and she chipped a tooth, Berkeley police spokeswoman Mary Kusmiss said. She was knocked down during an altercation in which one of two uninvited guests threw the brick at a group of people standing on the porch of the Phi Gamma Delta house, Kusmiss said. Police searched the area for the two men but made no arrests.

"At the beginning of the school year, we tend to see a lot of alcohol abuse and it has a significant impact on emergency services," Kusmiss said.

"You have young people who fall down or get into fights, and people get alcohol poisoning."

Berkeley Police said they will kick off their enforcement program today Friday and Saturday from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. by checking identification at the doors of bars and by using underage decoys to ask adults to buy them alcohol at local stores.

Contra Costa Times

Alcohol debate brews

A nationwide initiative to lower the national drinking age widely supported by secondary education officials has drawn questions from a public unsure if good can come from younger, legal alcohol consumers.

Local educators and members of the legal community question the effects of a lower drinking age on 18-year-old high school students and their friends who are often still juveniles.

The Amethyst Initiative is an effort supported by over 100 college presidents and officials, who question the effectiveness of a national minimum drinking age of 21. Though they do not suggest a particular policy, their belief is that a lower drinking age will curb binge drinking in the 18-20-year-old demographic.

The law limiting legal alcohol drinking to those of 21 years and older was established by the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984, which restricted those underage from purchasing or publicly possessing alcohol, except in religious and medical purposes, in private establishments and in the course of lawful employment by licensed distributors.

The initiative, which encourages elected officials to debate the 21 drinking age and invites new ideas to prepare young adults to make responsible alcohol-related decisions, is supported by many who believe that the current drinking age has developed "a culture of dangerous, clandestine "binge-drinking." Further, they contend that educating adults to abstain from alcohol completely until of a legal age "has not resulted in significant constructive behavioral change among our students."

The 129 (as of press time) college officials, some of whom lead Indiana schools like Butler University, Hanover College and Holy Cross College, wonder why adults under 21 are capable of voting, signing contracts, serving on juries and enlisting in the military but are considered too immature to drink. They also contend that a lower drinking age leads to compromised morals of students who pursue fake identification to purchase alcohol.

But locally, school and law enforcement officials doubt the benefits of lowering the drinking age.

Frontier School Corporation Superintendent Bernard Graser opposes a lower drinking age. Graser's concern for his students prompted his opposition.

"I think it's (underage drinking) a prevalent problem whether it be here or any other school," he said. "We'd just be opening a larger area for problems."

Graser felt that if the drinking age were lowered, kids under 18 would find themselves with easier access to alcoholic drinks.

"I definitely think that would be a problem, and in bigger numbers," he said. "There's some of it already that's going on because some students have older brothers and sisters.

"In some cases it's even coming from the parents, who think that 'well, I'd rather them drink at home than away,' but then kids start sneaking it out."

North White Junior/High School Principal Jeff Jones remembers debates raging over the same topic, 25 and more years ago; he believes the solution then still works in the present.

"I just think that it's too young of an age to be able to legally access alcohol," Jones said. "I was thinking back to the 70s when I was in high school."

Jones recalled peers traveling out of Indiana to states with lax alcohol laws, but also remembered a high number of complications associated with them

"They switched it back to 21 because they were starting to see an increase in alcohol-related automobile accidents, an increase in binge drinking," he explained. "We've already been down that road; they saw the statistics then, and I don't think that's going to change today."

As Twin Lakes athletic director, Kent Adams often sees the consequences when student athletes choose to drink and then get in trouble.

"We never want that type of negative attention to our athletes, and it takes away from all the good things that are happening and the positives," Adams lamented. "If you have an 18-year-old athlete that is allowed to drink, they would still be subject to the same rules and regulations that everybody else (other athletes) has to obey."

Adams didn't find the benefit in allowing 18-year olds to consume alcohol legally.

"These laws and rules we have are to keep adults and kids safe and from having a serious accident happen," he explained. "I don't see any possible positive impact that doing that (lowering the drinking age) would have."

Being on the state side of the law, White County prosecutor Bob Guy and juvenile probation officer Garry Foster all too often see the result when youth choose to drink, and don't see a lower drinking age improving the situation.

"I would say probably 20 percent of my people are in for underage consumption," Foster explained. "If they're not on for that reason, it may be something that drugs and alcohol are influencing some of the decisions they're making.

"I think with the position I'm in that I would be against it (lowering the drinking age)," Foster concluded. "My biggest concern with the whole thing is you've got 18-year-olds in high school who are friends with these younger kids; I think it's just going to give them more access and make it easier to get alcohol from their friends."

Guy explained that those under 18 caught consuming underage or in possession of alcohol go through the juvenile justice system, while over 18 are charged as adults.

"Our incidents our elevated because of the nature of our resort community," said Guy, excluding Tippecanoe County from his statement.

"I'm opposed to that (lowering the drinking age) not only as a prosecutor but as a parent," Guy said. "I've seen the statistics showing the fatality rates."

Guy pointed out that the laws in place weren't written using arbitrary ages; the ages of 16 for driving and 21 for drinking were established after being time tested. He added that both are not rights but privileges for those old enough that they reasonably should be responsible for their actions.

But Guy took issue with one of the main arguments pointed to by the Amethyst Initiative.

"The argument is if you're old enough to fight for your country you're old enough to drink," he said. "I suppose that's a valid argument; in some ways that's hard to dispute. But also, the law is there in place trying to protect not only the young person but to protect society generally."

Guy believed a lower drinking age would only increase the number of minors consuming alcohol by providing them easy access.

"We would be foolish to think that there aren't 21-year olds or in that general age category that are buying for 18-, 19-, 20-year college friends," he said. "If you are now 18-years old and of legal age, instead of the 21-year old buying for the 20-, 19- and 18-year olds, that 18-year old is now going to be buying for the 15-, 16- and 17-year olds.

"How many 18-year olds do we still have at Twin Lakes High School, North White High School, Frontier High School and Tri-County High School?"

So while many university officials who have joined Amethyst Initiative wish to open dialogue regarding a lower drinking age, those who oversee younger students and alcohol offenders have serious doubts of the benefits of such a measure.

"Why lower our standards anyway?" asked Graser rhetorically. "I think it's a given fact that at a lower age, well at any age really, alcohol inhibits our ability to make good decisions, along with our physical abilities. "

"It's already been experimented with, and I don't think it's going to work now; so I don't see any point in trying it again," concluded Jones.

Herald Journal

Extreme teenage drinking a growing problem?

Two Rohnert Park 15-year-olds partied with small groups of friends, no adult supervision and plenty of vodka.

The girl in May and the boy in July tapped unknown shoulders at grocery stores and persuaded adults to buy the booze. The teens each drank at least 20 ounces, the equivalent of about 13 shots, and suffered alcohol poisoning so severe that medical officials feared for their survival.

To the surprise of doctors, the teens, unidentified because they are juveniles, both lived.

The two cases reported by Rohnert Park police highlight the dangers and severity of teen drinking, Sgt. Art Sweeney said.

They also show discretionary treatment of underage drinkers who, the same age, in the same city, having drunk the same amount, face different consequences.

The girl was arrested June 18 on charges of public drunkenness and illegally possessing alcohol after a six-week investigation, Sweeney said. The boy likely will not be charged.

"There was a different temperature to them, a different flavor," Sweeney said. "In one, we were able to see that it was best dealt with as a diversion counseling issue. The girl was nearly dead, and we thought it was a crime."

Within the justice system, consideration is given a teen's history, blood-alcohol level, best opportunity for recovery, and how well the teen helps in an investigation, all of which can lead to different treatment of similar cases.

Widespread problem

Law enforcement officers, school officials and parents all say underage drinking is a major problem in Sonoma County.

Among high school juniors in Sonoma County, 54 percent, or 1,796 students, reported having been "very drunk or sick from drinking alcohol" at least once on the 2004 to 2006 California Healthy Kids Survey. Eight percent of seventh-graders, 319 students, said they had been.

This month, Santa Rosa Police have arrested three boys and one girl under the age of 18 on charges of public drunkenness or possessing alcohol.

Last year in Rohnert Park, one juvenile, on average, was arrested each week on charges of underage drinking. Many more teens were released with a warning and no formal report, such as the boy whose vodka binge sent him to the hospital.

"One of our officers taking a juvenile home or otherwise releasing them to a parent is by far the most common way the cases are resolved," Sweeney said. "This reprimand and release does not create a formal report."

For alcohol counselors, law enforcement responses that range from a ride home to a ride to Juvenile Hall make it difficult to convey the message that alcohol is illegal for teens.

"There is inconsistency to some degree," said Diane Davis, program manager of counseling and prevention services at West County Youth Services. "If these kids are caught by law enforcement with alcohol, there needs to be a citation."

Some teens said they are more likely to be warned than cited.

"When they catch you, they just pour out the rest of your drink," said one 17-year-old in Santa Rosa.

"They might warn you and say next time you're going to get a ticket or something, but it never happens," said another.

Davis said students tell her of many more kids who are warned than are arrested or cited.

"Police officers want to give kids a second chance. But having a consistent response is important. If it's inconsistent, the message is that you might get away with it sometimes."

Few go to court

Approximately 700 teenagers a year are seen on drug and alcohol citations and arrests, said Sheralyn Freitas, the Sonoma County Probation Department's deputy chief of field services. The department does not distinguish between alcohol and drug offenses.

Few of the teens are summoned to court, many are requested to call the probation department and most are sent from there to community-based alcohol education programs, Freitas said.

Sonoma County District Attorney Stephan Passalacqua said he would not speak to specific cases, including those of the Rohnert Park 15-year-olds. But he said a number of people, from the police officer who spots a teen with alcohol to the intake officer at Juvenile Hall, have the discretion to treat a teen with varying levels of severity.

Behavior a factor

That some teens would be referred to probation while others are warned, is the result of how teens behave following their drunkenness, Sweeney said.

If a teen immediately provides information about where the alcohol came from and cooperates with law enforcement, that plays a major role in how cops proceed with the case, Sweeney said.

The girl and friends she partied with were not forthcoming about where the alcohol came from, Sweeney said.

In the boy's case, "people there were willing to talk to us," Sweeney said, adding that the boy cooperated with police officers immediately.

Because of that difference, the girl, treated for alcohol poisoning May 3 and arrested June 18, is facing charges.

She nearly died of an alcohol overdose after she filled an empty 20-ounce Gatorade bottle with vodka and drank it straight before wandering off to a nearby park, according to police and friends.

At Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, her blood-alcohol level was 0.578, seven times the level for drunken driving, and doctors feared she would not live through the night.

The boy, treated for alcohol poisoning July 31, will likely be referred to counseling, if anything, Sweeney said.

"There was no crime," Sweeney said. "It's unlikely he would be charged. If anything, he would be referred to a counseling situation."

Friends of the boy told police he drank seven double shots of vodka -- totaling about 21 ounces -- in 15 minutes before an ambulance rushed him from Benicia Park to a local hospital, Sweeney said.

But though the boy drank nearly the same amount of vodka as the girl, he was likely not as drunk, doctors said.

His blood-alcohol level likely did not soar to the lethal levels recorded in the girl because body chemistry differences allow men to tolerate more alcohol than women with fewer effects, said Dr. Anthony Boyce, a chemical dependency specialist at Kaiser Permanente in Santa Rosa.

Still, drinking seven double shots in 15 minutes would have had a significant impact on the teen's body, said Boyce, who did not treat either teen.

"Men tend to tolerate alcohol better and can get away with drinking more," Boyce said. "But that's still a heck of a lot of alcohol in a short period of time."

Boyce said the teen likely passed out and vomited, but whether or not he suffered other consequences, such as asphyxiation and choking, is unknown as is any guess as to what his blood-alcohol level could have been, other than "lethal."

Sweeney said the boy was released from the hospital Aug. 1.

Because he was cooperating with police and not as "close to death as the girl," there was no police report and no record of his blood-alcohol level, Sweeney said.

"We are dealing with the parents and child from a diversion standpoint but not a prosecution one," Sweeney said.

Meanwhile, the girl, now likely in the juvenile probation system, could be facing her actions before a judge and sentenced to counseling as well as community service, a counselor at a local youth services program said.

Among high school juniors in Sonoma County, 54 percent, or 1,796 students, reported having been "very drunk or sick from drinking alcohol" at least once on the 2004 to 2006 California Healthy Kids Survey. Eight percent of seventh-graders, 319 students, said they had been.

Press Democrat

Board in despair at scale of drink problem in isles

Alcohol problems in the Western Isles are so widespread that the health authority admits it is difficult to know which population groups should be targeted for action.

The comment is contained in a major report into alcohol misuse in the islands which will be considered by the board of NHS Western Isles later this week. It covers the Hebridean archipelago whose populated islands stretch from Lewis in the north to Vatersay in the south.

The paper reports that, in common with a number of other Scottish health board areas, the alcohol-related death rate for men in the Western Isles is 50% or more above the UK average. The rate in 2005 was the second highest in Scotland and has been consistently high in relation to other board areas.

The female rate in the Western Isles was the highest in Scotland in 2005, although it fluctuates because of the very small numbers involved.

Alcohol-related hospital discharges rose by nearly a third over the five years to 2004/2005. Some three-quarters of the discharges - 338 out of 437 - involved men, but there was a worrying 60% rise over the five-year period in the number of island women, compared to a 20% increase for the rest of Scotland. There were some 99 female alcohol-related hospital discharges in 2004/2005 alone.

Meanwhile, the average number of patients accessing detoxification services at Western Isles Hospital each month is currently between 10 and 13. From June 2006 to March 2007, the gender split was 12 women and 84 men.

Although many different groups were in need of help, the report commends targeting young people, saying that in purely pragmatic terms it made sense "...to attempt to reduce future problems".

It says that another local study had found that a significant proportion of the youth homelessness problem in the island was related to parental alcohol misuse.

The report suggests this could be an area for action: "By providing support early on in life, particularly for young people born into a culture of alcohol misuse, it may be possible to help them break out of the cycle."

The provision of youth cafes could make a contribution as "they afford the opportunity for dialogue with young people about support needs and about reducing community alcohol problems.

"The feedback to date from the Barra Youth Cafe suggests that they can be effective in their own right in bringing about change in young people's attitudes to alcohol and drugs".

The Herald

Young Scots risk losing their sight in bid to get blind drunk

With one of the highest rates of binge drinking among teenagers, Scotland already has an unenviable reputation with alcohol.
But now experts are warning about a new trend among young people that is aimed at speeding up the process of getting drunk – pouring shots of alcohol directly into their eyes.

Known as "one-in-the-eye", it involves using shot glasses in a manner similar to that of eye-wash.

Despite the risk of blindness, users hope that by absorbing the alcohol via the membranes of the eye, it will enter the bloodstream more quickly and have a stronger effect when it reaches the brain.

Originating in the bars of holiday resorts on the continent, the dangerous fad has caught on in university bars and nightclubs, despite potentially catastrophic consequences.

One leading doctor warned those who indulge in the craze are seriously endangering their sight.

Dr Maggie Watts, chairman of the Scottish Association of Alcohol and Drugs Action Teams, said: "It is an extremely dangerous activity. It can damage the front of your eye and can cause the bursting of blood vessels.

"Persisting in doing this could lead to permanent damage. There is the possibility of blindness.

"Once you get scarring on the cornea that can be a very serious problem."

And another expert added: "There are so many youngsters now doing this that it is only a matter of time before someone loses their sight.''

But as the new university term approaches, many students fail to see the potential harm in the drinking game.

Charlotte Greene, 23, said she drank a shot of vodka through her eye.

The former Strathclyde University student said: "It's the kind of daft thing more and more students are tempted to do. You're young and you're messing around.

"I took it like an eye-wash and then just waited to see what happened.

"It was very messy, most of it ran down my face and ruined my make-up.

"But it did start to sting almost straightaway and my eye went bright red and bloodshot.

"I'm not sure how much actually went in my eye. I had quite a lot to drink already but I think it did tip me over the edge.

"My eye was red and sore until the following evening. I was a bit worried I had damaged something. So I just drank the normal way after that.

"It was all a bit silly and a bit of an experiment, but it was fun at the time."

Alcohol awareness counsellors said they are horrified by the trend.

Meg Wright, chief executive of Glasgow Council on Alcohol, said: "We are very concerned about the rise in this practice and about anyone who misuses alcohol in this way."

And Paul Waterson, chief executive of the Scottish Licensed Traders Association, said that his members would not tolerate such behaviour if they saw people doing it in their bars.

He said: "They would be horrified, really, and put a stop to it immediately. It's a dangerous and ridiculous practice and we would have no truck with it".

Kenny MacAskill, the justice minister, has repeatedly spoken out against the problem of binge drinking among young people, threatening to crack down on the sale of cheap alcohol in supermarkets and under-age drinking.

A Scottish Government spokesman said they were outraged by the craze.

"We strongly condemn all irresponsible uses of alcohol, which can lead to very serious health consequences in both the long and short term,'' he said.

The Scotsman

Alcohol Consumption Can Cause Too Much Cell Death, Fetal Abnormalities

The initial signs of fetal alcohol syndrome are slight but classic: facial malformations such as a flat and high upper lip, small eye openings and a short nose.

Researchers want to know if those facial clues can help them figure out how much alcohol it takes during what point in development to cause these and other lifelong problems.

They have good evidence that just a few glasses of wine over an hour in the first few weeks of fetal life, typically before a woman knows she's pregnant, increases cell death. Too few cells are then left to properly form the face and possibly the brain and spinal cord.

"It’s well known that when you drink, you get a buzz. But a couple of hours later, that initial impact, at least, is gone," says Dr. Erhard Bieberich, biochemist in the Medical College of Georgia Schools of Medicine and Graduate Studies. "But, your fetus may have experienced irreversible damage."

He thinks the damage results from the death of neural crest cells, versatile cells that travel a lot during development, ultimately helping form bone, cartilage, connective tissue, the heart and more. These cells are developing at the same time as neural tube cells that form the brain and spinal cord. Consequently, the telltale facial abnormalities in a newborn also may foretell problems with learning, memory, vision, hearing and more.

Some cells need to die during development. "There is always a very delicate balance between newly formed cells and dying cells," says Dr. Bieberich. "It's a very active period of that balance, because usually you develop a surplus of tissue then later melt it back down to acquire a specific shape." He likes to use the hands as an example of critical melting. "The digits form because the inter-digital tissue dies. If it did not die, we would have paddles instead of hands with fingers."

Cell death likely results from alcohol disturbing the metabolism of the lipids that help the hollow wad of stem cells that forms in the first day of life find direction and purpose, he says.

A grant from the March of Dimes, whose mission is to prevent birth defects and infant mortality, is enabling him to compare cell loss in mice following different levels of alcohol consumption to the usual loss that occurs in development.

His focus is these neural crest cells, which help form the upper part of the skull. Some neural crest cells stay in the brain and, early on, these cells share growth factors with neural tube cells. Cognitive and other brain damage is hard to quantify this early, but mice missing the neural crest gene also experience problems with skull and brain development.

Ideally his measurements will give women a better idea of the risk of alcohol consumption and point toward a way to reduce the damage. "You have to make people aware of the science behind the risk," Dr. Bieberich says. "We are not saying that every pregnant woman who drinks three or four glasses of wine in a short period will have a baby with birth defects, but it elevates the risk."

Fetal alcohol syndrome affects about 1 in 1,000 babies, according the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC recommends that pregnant women and sexually active women not using effective birth control refrain from drinking.

Dr. Bieberich's collaborators include, Dr. Guanghu Wang, research assistant scientist; Kannan Krishnamurthy, fifth-year graduate student; and Dr. Somsankar Dasgupta, senior research scientist.

Science Daily

Teen alcohol use a problem

Tehama County teens have an alcohol problem, but a $1.2 million grant may help them find a path to sober and safe behavior.

After a survey revealed Tehama County teen drinking rates are higher than the state average, the Department of Education will address alcohol use among youth during the next three years with an alcohol reduction grant.

The department received the grant from the U.S. Department of Education Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools in July and will use the money to serve students at Red Bluff, Salisbury and Los Molinos high schools.

The grant-funded program will use family-based curriculum and work with the community to target underage drinking, said Tina Zastrow, the grant's program coordinator.

"We are absolutely looking to try to eliminate underage drinking," she said. "It's illegal. It's dangerous. We know young people get injured and killed when they are engaging in alcohol-related behavior."

Drinking is also often a precursor to drug use, violence and teen pregnancy, she said.

"We see (the grant) as a potential to curb other problems as well," Zastrow said.

Troublesome numbers

Prevention Director Amy Henderson applied for the grant after the most recent California Healthy Kids survey revealed some troublesome statistics.

One of the most alarming revelations was ninth-grade girls are engaging in alcohol use and binge drinking more often than boys in their grade, Zastrow said.

The survey showed 36 percent of freshman girls report having used alcohol in the last 30 days, and 20 percent have drank five or more alcoholic drinks in a couple of hours, compared to 26 percent and 16 percent, respectively, for freshman boys.

The survey also revealed youth are getting alcohol from their own homes, friends' homes or at parties where adults may or may not be present. Of students who use alcohol, 35 percent of freshman and 40 percent of juniors reported having used alcohol at family events.

"They are saying it's really easy to get alcohol in Tehama County," Zastrow said.

The grant will help fund a "Parents who host lose the most" program. When parents allow their children to drink at home, they think they are being safe because they can keep an eye on them, she said. But their children interpret it as their parents being OK with them drinking.

"It really gives them a mixed message," Zastrow said.

Sheriff Clay Parker agreed.

"I think the problem is since it's legal for people over 21, no one really perceives it as a drug," he said. "So, socially it's acceptable for adults to drink, so the kids think it's OK for them, too."

Alcohol a dangerous drug

Whenever Parker attends a conferences where facilitators ask what the No. 1 drug destroying America is, many people suggest marijuana or methamphetamine. But alcohol is just as bad, if not worse, he said.

"For years now, I have been looking at people who are looking at drunk in public, drunk driving and domestic violence with alcohol involved," Parker said.

The department sees alcohol use among minors and responds to related calls on a regular basis, he said. The calls are most often for loud music, loud noise or sometimes reckless driving. A few times each month the department is called out, sometimes by parents, to do an investigation when a minor was provided with alcohol.

Parker spends the first few minutes at the office every day looking at the logs and booking reports. Alcohol is almost always a factor, he said. Curbing alcohol use and abuse among minors is crucial to "prevent them from falling into the trap the adults have."

Education is key - for juveniles and adults, he said. Parents must understand what they are really doing when they allow their children to drink. The grant will be a great tool to aid in that education, and Parker was happy the grant was extended to include Los Molinos High School.

Why teens turn to alcohol

The California Health Kids Survey, which is given to California's fifth-, seventh-, ninth- and 11th-grade students every other year, measure attitudes toward drugs, violence, crime and other issues.

The survey was administered at all county schools last school year and revealed Tehama County youth use alcohol at a higher rate than the state average.

About 34 percent of Tehama County seventh-graders reported having tried alcohol at least once, compared to 18 percent statewide. And while 62 percent of 11th-graders statewide reported having tried alcohol at least once, 73 percent of Tehama County 11th-graders said they had done so.

Zastrow said some teens may turn to alcohol because of the rural nature of Tehama County.

"People think there aren't that many alternatives, that there is nothing else to do for fun," she said.

Many students may also start drinking when they transition into high school. When a student goes from being one of a few eighth-graders to one of 500 freshmen, the student might choose alcohol to ease into a social situation.

The questions posed by the survey don't really get at the root of the problem, such as why freshman girls are drinking more than their male counterparts, Zastrow said. She hopes to host some focus groups to learn the motivations and attitudes behind that statistic.

Curbing the problem

Daniel Curry, superintendent of Red Bluff Joint Union High School District, said he is happy to see Tehama County Health Services Agency drug and alcohol counselors, Girls Incorporated of the Northern Sacramento Valley, the Tehama County Health Partnership and local law enforcement join together to combat underage drinking.

"We have a lot of parents' most precious assets, and that's their children," he said. "Everyone has pulled together to help our kids."

The research-based strategies, some of which will be embedded into students' curriculum, will be especially effective, he said. The grant will also help with drug and alcohol counseling and after school and evening classes for students and parents.

"Anything that gets in the way of our student success is a concern for us," Curry said. "That's why we really look at these statistics and are really excited about this grant."

Red Bluff Daily News

Drink Has Nation On The Brink

Britian faces a torrent of alcohol-related illness to the tune of £1.7billion and has seen a seven-fold increase in liver disease among women aged 35 to 44.

According to Alcohol Concern, more than three million people in the UK are dependent on alcohol.

While health professionals are jumping up and down releasing warnings and guidelines, fitness and health guru Jacqueline Harvey, adopts a more measured tone.

Citing the increased levels of alcohol in measures and the fact women's bodies in particular tend to find it harder to break down than men, she says: "Our bodies were not built to deal with large amounts of toxins. If alcohol intake to such high levels was good for the system, we'd be a healthy nation.

"Instead, most of us have suffered a 'hangover from hell' coupled with days of depression and feeling weak.

"We don't have to do away with alcohol altogether but we all have a choice about how we want to treat our bodies and we must understand alcohol can damage us if it is used inappropriately. It is not a food but a drug and excessive intake stresses you both physically and mentally.

"If your body is occupied with defending itself against toxins, it will have little strength to deal with real diseases and infections."

She advises:

Eat before you drink. This slows down the effect of alcohol on your blood-sugar levels. If going out for dinner, have a small snack first as this will help you to drink less while waiting for your food.

Keep your body hydrated by drinking water with alcohol. This will help to prevent the general inflammation that causes hangover symptoms such as a headache, dry tongue, bloated stomach and brain fog.

If you've had a heavy night drinking, try to rest the next day to allow your body to process and recover from toxin overload. Focus on cooling your body. Eat green vegetables, lean white proteins and salads, peppermint, camomile, lavender or milk thistle tea.

Daily Record

French curb on alcohol sales as teenagers discover le binge drinking

Teenagers are to be banned from buying alcohol in France, as health advisers dismiss the cherished Gallic belief that children should be initiated in the art of wine-drinking at an early age.

With British-style binge drinking gaining ground among French youth, officials say they want to send out a clear message against adolescent consumption. Roselyne Bachelot, the Health Minister, said that she was planning to make it illegal to sell alcohol to the under18s, with legislation likely to be introduced next year.

Her announcement signals a sea change in a society where 16-year-olds have been able to buy wine and beer, although not spirits, in cafés and restaurants and all alcoholic drinks in supermarkets and other shops with an off-licence. It marks a shift in official thinking over the hallowed French tradition of initiating the young in drinking rituals, notably involving wine.

The French consensus has been that the first sips should be taken in early adolescence – or before – under parental supervision. This is believed to foster a mature, sensible approach to alcohol far removed from Anglo-Saxon excesses – a couple of glasses of red with lunch and dinner throughout the week, rather than ten pints of lager on a Saturday night.

A senior French health adviser told The Times that his compatriots were deluding themselves. Bernard Basset, deputy managing director of the National Institute for Health Prevention and Education, said that not only did childhood tippling encourage adult alcoholism, but it was also no barrier to binge drinking. He said: “In effect, you are authorising them to drink and suggesting that alcohol consumption is a normal thing.”

Studies showed that those who started drinking under the age of 18 were likely to consume more in later life than those who started afterwards, he added. Mr Basset hopes that the ban on serving alcohol to teenagers in public will encourage a similar move within Gallic families. “What we say is, don’t drink before adulthood.”

Research has debunked the idea that the French were immune to le binge-drinking, as it has become known. The percentage of under18s saying they got drunk regularly rose from 19 to 26 per cent between 2003 and 2006, for instance. According to the Health Ministry, the number of people under 24 treated in hospital in connection with alcohol increased by 50 per cent between 2004 and 2007.

Gilles Demigneux, a public health specialist, said: “The fact that you can get completely smashed in an Anglo-Saxon way, using alcohol as a drug, is something we couldn’t have imagined in France in the 1980s.”

In an attempt to curble binge-drink-ing the Health Ministry released Boire Trop(Too Much to Drink), a hard-hitting advertising campaign this summer, cautioning that excessive alcohol could lead to comas, violence, accidents and sexual abuse.

Critics say the government action could be counter-productive, however. The Federation of General Student Associations, a leading students’ union, said: “There is a tendency to infantilise young people when it would be better to make them take responsibility for themselves.”

Olivier Douard, a sociologist at the Laboratory for the Study of and Research into Social Intervention in southern France, said: “Bans are not generally efficient as far as adolescents are concerned. They often lead to transgression.”

The debate has been given added urgency by the death from alcohol poisoning last month of an 18-year-old student in central France who had been out to celebrate passing his end of school exams. In another well-publicised case this week, a father from Brittany sued the supermarket that had sold three bottles of spirits to his 16-year-old daughter, who was taken to hospital after losing consciousness.

Times Online

Underage drinking tough to control

He says he drank his first alcohol at 14, and it made him feel "good and kind of dizzy." He's 16 now and lives in a Wichita suburb. Until recently, he said, he drank at teen parties nearly every weekend -- six to seven beers each time.

His mother put him in treatment after she found marijuana in his car.

"I'm the dumbest person, I guess," she said, for not detecting his problem earlier. "I'm not dumb anymore."

Their experience is part of a continuing problem of underage drinking.

About 48 percent of Kansas high school students say they have had a drink in the past 30 days, compared with 40 percent nationally, according to a report by the state Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services.

The numbers are based on a statewide survey of students.

There has been some good news: Surveys also indicated slightly declining rates of drinking by the state's high school students from 2001 to 2005, although officials note the decline has been small. Some treatment experts said they suspect that part of the decline in alcohol use is due to use of illegal drugs instead.

In 2005, about 55 percent of the state's high school seniors reported drinking alcohol in the past 30 days, according to SRS. About 35 percent of seniors reported binge drinking -- having five or more drinks in a row at least once within the previous two weeks.

"Perhaps of even more concern is the fact that nearly one in 10 youth in sixth grade report drinking alcohol in the past 30 days," said the report, based on a survey.

SRS has started a program to combat underage drinking in 14 counties, including Sumner, Reno, Harper and Kingman counties in south-central Kansas.

"I think we get complacent until something really bad happens," said Tom Buell, addiction services director for DCCCA Inc., one the largest nonprofit social-service agencies in the state.

Early on the morning of Aug. 16, a 15-year-old Derby girl suffered critical injuries when a car struck her as a drinking party broke up following a fight, Sedgwick County sheriff's officials say. About 50 people, ages 15 to 20, were at the party on South 116th Street East, in southeastern Sedgwick County. Detectives are continuing to investigate.

National, local issue

Underage drinking has become a national issue as well, with a debate over whether the legal drinking age should be lowered to 18. Some university presidents contend that lowering the age would reduce binge drinking.

And with school starting, teens are holding more parties, police say.

Parents are a big part of the problem because they often support drinking parties, under a misguided belief that teens are safer if they drink at someone's home, Wichita police and treatment officials say.

Meanwhile, two state-supported Wichita residential treatment facilities for adolescents -- which had a total of 31 beds -- have closed in the past year. So now the closest residential treatment facility is in the Kansas City area. The situation moves adolescents away from their families and makes it difficult for parents to be involved in their children's treatment, officials say.

Teens "should be considered a priority for treatment access in Kansas, and they are not treated as a priority," said Harold Casey, head of the Substance Abuse Center of Kansas, a nonprofit treatment, assessment and referral agency in Wichita. The federal government sets the priorities for the states, Casey said.

'A challenge for me'

Until he was caught with cocaine and began attending outpatient treatment, a Wichita 16-year-old says he drank six to nine beers every weekend at parties.

At the time, he said, he approached drinking as "something you had to do" at a party.

"You just can't be the only sober one," said the teen, after a recent treatment session attended by his mother.

To protect their anonymity as they recover, The Eagle is not naming teens interviewed for this article.

When the 16-year-old drank, he lost his inhibitions. It was the only way he would dance. "If I didn't drink," he said, "I'd be embarrassed."

But he never drank and drove, he said. "It was just something I knew I couldn't do." His sober sister was his driver.

Nationwide, alcohol-related traffic accidents are the leading cause of death among teens and young adults, the SRS report said.

The 16-year-old said he used cocaine so he could drink more and stay awake longer.

Still, he said he doesn't consider himself an alcoholic. He said he has been to two parties and stayed sober.

"And it's not bad. I just tell them I don't want to drink. I tell them I'm in treatment, and they understand."

He's getting more sleep and trying to improve his grades so he can graduate "because people in my family think I can't do it. So it's a challenge for me."

The 16-year-old is Hispanic. That is relevant, the SRS report said, noting that Hispanic students and white students reported a higher prevalence of alcohol consumption.

'It's still not safe'

It seems that more parents are allowing teens and their friends to drink at home as long as they don't drive, says Buell, addiction services director with DCCCA.

But it's still harmful and irresponsible, he said.

"The bottom line is you never know which one of those kids will take that first drink and immediately" be at risk of alcoholism because they are genetically predisposed, he said.

Pam McLucas, a drug and alcohol counselor at Wichita Children's Home, said, "I've heard a lot kids say that, 'My parents don't care if I drink at home. They'd rather me drink at home, in front of them.' "

But it ends up encouraging teens to drink elsewhere as well, she said.

Officer Michael Lloyd, who coordinates the Wichita Police Department's efforts against underage drinking, said if police break up a party, "if there's 20 kids, at least four of those parents will say, 'Well, at least they're not out running around.'

"I just tell them honestly, 'It still doesn't make it right; it's still not safe.'

"We've even had them at hotels where parents are renting the rooms for them," Lloyd said.

Part of problem, he said, is "the parent, they want to be their best friend."

But it can get the parent prosecuted. A law that many parents don't know about makes it a misdemeanor to host an underage party where alcohol is consumed, he said.

'Here, have a drink'

About 85 percent of the children coming to the Children's Home are from families with a substance abuse history, said McLucas, the counselor.

"I say this over and over again: 'Be what you want your kids to be,' " she said. "That may be giving up drinking, even socially. People who go to a party, and they have a few drinks, and then they get in a car and go home. But they're telling their kids not to do that."

Most of the time, she said, "kids will follow their parents' lead."

A 21-year-old Wichita man, now in treatment, says he got his first drink when he was 15, in another state.

He says his mother said, "Here, have a drink," and handed him a bottle with a mixture of vodka and Sprite.

"She was partying, her and my dad."

Growing up, he said, "everybody around me drank."

By 16, he was sneaking into his parents' room to get their alcohol.

"I was drinking like a 30- pack a day when I was 17," he said, although he considered marijuana his main problem because he spent most of his money on it.

After a few years in Wichita, his problems mounted.

"I got drunk and did something stupid" -- breaking into a home. He said he has been convicted of weapon possession and burglary.

"I wouldn't do that if I wasn't drunk," he said.

He said he has been sober about four months.

"I found God, so all I do is pray," he said.

He knows he will go to prison for 34 months if gets in trouble again. All it would take is testing positive for alcohol.

People on his street still ask if he wants a beer or some weed.

"No, I'm good," he said he tells them.

"And I just keep walking."

Kansas

Teens' risky drinking linked to infertility

Heavy drinking by females in their teens and 20s may reduce their chances of motherhood later in life, new research has found.

Previous studies have linked teenage drinking with risky sex and early motherhood. Now a study of Australian twins has shown that alcoholism in women resulted in later childbearing.

The study by Washington University's school of medicine analysed the drinking habits and reproductive histories of two groups of Australian twins, born before and after 1964.

Researchers found female alcoholics in both groups had children later in life - a trend not repeated in male alcoholics in the groups.

In the first group, comprising people born before 1964, 64per cent of female alcoholics had children compared with 78per cent of other women.

In the second group, 38per cent of alcohol-dependent women had children, compared with 49per cent of other women.

The study confirmed increasing alcoholism in women. Only 4per cent of women met the criteria for alcohol-dependency in the group born before 1964, compared with 15per cent for the group born after.

The study did not consider what amount of alcohol consumption affected fertility.

Lead researcher Mary Waldron, of Washington University, said the study, to be published in Alcoholism: Clinical And Experimental Research in November, served as a warning against excessive alcohol consumption.

Previous research examined risks to teens or adults but not both, Professor Waldron said. "Our findings highlight a risk associated with [alcohol dependence] in women that is not widely recognised - a risk that has assumed increasing importance given the increased rates of alcohol misuse by women, and particularly young women.

"Young women who drink alcohol may want to consider the longer-term consequences for later childbearing.

"If drinking continues or increases to levels of problem use, their ability and opportunity to have children may be impaired."

Nick Martin, a professor at Queensland Institute of Medical Research who took part in the study, said the links between alcohol and fertility were not conclusive.

"This was about women with persistent drinking problems," Professor Martin said. "The observation is that they will have less reproduction and delayed reproduction.

"While the affect may be hormonal, women with alcohol-dependency probably don't make good partners - that's another possible explanation. I think we have to consider the direct behavioural consequences of alcohol too."

Sydney Morning Herald

Patients lectured on drink danger

Hundreds of patients who visit their GPs are being lectured about their drinking habits as part of a trial being pioneered in the North-East and London.

North-East patients have been asked about how many units of alcohol they drink every week as part of a Government-funded trial.

Those who exceed the recommended weekly limit of 21 units for a man and 14 for a woman on a regular basis are given a leaflet, a five-minute interview, or a more in-depth 20-minute interview conducted by trained specialist alcohol control staff.

The aim is to make drinkers aware of the real dangers of drinking more than the recommended weekly levels.

The scheme covers a number of GP surgeries in Darlington, South Tyneside, Newcastle and Northumberland.

It also involves a number of North-East hospital accident and emergency units and – uniquely – the North-East probation service.

Details of the trial emerged as an advertisement for the new post of director of the North-East Alcohol Office appeared in the Health Service Journal yesterday – the initial move in establishing the country’s first office for alcohol control, which is being set up in the North-East.

The advertisement is seeking someone to “provide leadership and expert advice” on alcohol issues in an area where a “drinking culture” is causing the “widest range of harm”, compared with the rest of England.

The post offers a salary of between £62,000 and £77,000 a year.

Moves to set up the office follow increasing concern expressed by senior doctors about the high levels of bingedrinking in the North-East and the impact on people’s health.

Liver specialist Dr Christopher Record, of the Royal Victoria Infirmary, in Newcastle, said: “Half of my patients with alcohol-related liver failure are under the age of 40.

“It is absolutely monstrous that this is happening, that people should get to this stage at this time in their lives.”

The Sips trial, which stands for Screening and brief Intervention Programme, is being co-ordinated by academics at Newcastle University and the Institute of Psychiatry, at King’s College, London.

Nine sites are involved – four in the North-East and five in London.

Dr Dorothy Newbury-Birch, from Newcastle University, the North-East co-ordinator of the trial, said: “The overall aim is to reduce drinking.

“Research carried out by the World Health Organisation shows that brief interventions with patients does work, by making them aware of the consequences of their drinking.”

Dr Newbury-Birch said she had no doubt that regularly exceeding the maximum recommended levels of weekly alcohol consumption was damaging to health.

She stressed that the problem of excessive drinking in the North-East was something that affected a huge number of people.

She said: “This is something for all of us. It is not a them-and-us issue. This is about us as a society.”

The aim of the scheme is to identify the most effective way of persuading people to cut their drinking.

If successful, it could be extended across the UK.

Dr Newbury-Birch welcomed the creation of a North-East Alcohol Office.

She said: “We have all been waiting for someone to say “you must do this”. People are really beginning to understand there is a need to take action.”

Dr Record, who has campaigned for health warnings to be put on bottles containing beer, wine and spirits, said: “I think this is an extremely good development.

“Hopefully, we might now see some real action.

“It is also good that they are funding a specific post. There is a need for someone to give leadership on this very important issue.

“We are not going to see any changes until the culture of excessive drinking in the North-East is reversed.

“Then people will not think it is cool to drink heavily.”

He said society needed to change so excessive drinking “is no longer the norm”.

Northern Echo

Drinking age debate just one part of college alcohol problem

School of Education dean a noted researcher on college alcohol and drug abuse

The call to consider reducing the legal drinking age from 21 to 18 could spur some valuable discussion, but alone won't solve the college student alcohol problem, according to University Dean of the IU School of Education Gerardo Gonzalez, an internationally recognized expert on alcohol and drug education. More than 100 college and university chancellors and presidents have signed a public statement stating that the current legal drinking age of 21 hasn't worked.

"I think that what we're seeing in this letter is a level of frustration that college presidents feel about the problem of drinking on campus," Gonzalez said.

The higher education leaders are part of the Amethyst Initiative, an organization started last month (July 2008). On the organization's Web site, a welcome message reads that the current drinking age "has created a culture of dangerous binge drinking" on college campuses. While not specifically recommending lowering the drinking age, the organization "supports informed and unimpeded debate on the 21-year-old drinking age."

Gonzalez founded the BACCHUS Network (BACCHUS stands for "Boost Alcohol Consciousness Concerning the Health of University Students") at the University of Florida in 1975. It has grown to be the largest collegiate organization focused on preventing alcohol abuse, with more than 32,000 student leaders and advisers working with peers on more than 900 campuses worldwide. Gonzalez continues to serve on the BACCHUS board of trustees and consults with other organizations on issues surrounding campus alcohol abuse.

Gonzalez said he understands the desire for administrators to speak more candidly with students about alcohol abuse. Some campuses struggle with addressing students not of drinking age about the issues of alcohol.

"There's no evidence that reducing the drinking age would make it better," Gonzalez said. "It might make it easier for the colleges to be able to take a consistent approach to the population. But what we have on college campuses is a culture of drinking that leads to the very high level of binge drinking and related problems that we see. So no single approach or policy is going to impact that at the level that it needs to be impacted. It's going to require a comprehensive and sustained effort."

Gonzalez said that there is some research evidence suggesting such a change would have little impact on college students. He said that when a 1984 law required states to make the legal drinking age 21 or lose federal highway money, alcohol consumption and alcohol-related traffic crashes dropped for the 18 to 21 age group as a whole. But for college students, no relationship was found between minimum legal drinking age and either consumption levels or crashes.

The call for a change is also couched in an assumption, Gonzalez said, that drinking would be more open and thus more monitored. "Rather than trying to hide or do it behind closed doors, they might go to bars, go to places where there is more environmental control of the circumstances," he said. "Again, there is no research evidence to suggest that in fact that would happen."

The biggest impact of the presidents' initiative could be a frank discussion of the issues of college student alcohol abuse, Gonzalez said. "And to the extent that the presidents' initiative leads to a dialogue about what should the institutions do and what should be the presidents' role in promoting and advancing effective approaches, I think it is a healthy development. But the assumption that it could all hinge on a change in the drinking age law is not now supported by the research evidence."

IU News Room

Drinking to excess a big danger for women

A New Study at St James's Hospital, Dublin has shown that excess drinking can lead to heart problems, with the effects particularly dangerous for women.

Doctors investigating the modifiable lifestyle issues of patients being treated for hypertension have found worryingly high levels of alcohol consumption with the consequences including stiffened arteries, enlarged hearts and greater risk of coronary failure.

Dr Azra Mahmud, a cardiovascular and hypertension specialist at the Trinity Centre for Health Sciences based at St James's Hospital defines hypertension as "high blood pressure that is persistent and sustained" and refers to it as a "silent killer". This is because it tends to be an "incidental finding" made for example when someone goes to their GP for treatment for a cold.

Mahmud says that the elevated blood pressure can "often have been going on for years with the implication that other things might have been going on in the meanwhile".

The problem is that this is linked to three major medical problems: cell death in the brain; kidney problems that can result in renal failure; and stiffness as well as enlargement of the heart which can cause heart failure.

In a study presented this year at the annual conference of the American Society of Hypertension, Mahmud studied 200 people being treated for high blood pressure. Blood pressure over a 24-hour period, stiffening of the arteries and echocardiography measures were taken; among other things, echocardiography measures how the heart contracts, relaxes and whether it is bigger than it should be.

Findings showed that for men, excessive drinking (defined as more than 21 units per week) is "associated with higher blood pressure, more stiff arteries (appearing almost 10 years older) and a stiffer heart muscle".

The more surprising finding was for women identified as excessive drinkers, those drinking more than 14 units of alcohol per week.

The effects "bypassed the normal pathways of how you damage your heart and something was happening directly to the cardiac structure because of the high alcohol intake," says Mahmud. The biggest finding was that these women had significantly enlarged hearts.

Since having an enlarged heart is a "prognosticator of increased cardiovascular mortality", according to Mahmud, and the average age of the men and women in the study was 46, these findings should prove a cause for concern for the medical world and society at large.

A very important point is that a clinical diagnosis of hypertension is not necessary for alcohol to have its dangerous impact.

In a study published in 2002, Mahmud had found that more than 21 units of alcohol per week in males chosen from the general population can lead to elevated blood pressure.

WHY WOMEN ARE more affected by alcohol is not yet well-understood. Mahmud says it is possible that they may have fewer enzymes in their stomach lining, so they cannot break down the alcohol effectively. Additionally, they may have poorer metabolising enzymes in the heart itself, which then affects the organ directly.

One of the host of reasons for increased alcohol use is the misinterpretation of the "French Paradox" Mahmud believes. French people have a low coronary heart disease mortality despite a high fat consumption. This is thought to relate to the consumption of red wine which contains flavonoids, "antioxidants that improve nitric availability in the [blood] vessels which makes them more relaxed.

"We know that in moderation it is good but the message is not taken on board; moderation is the message," says Mahmud. Recommendations say average intake for men should be no more than three units a day for men and two for women. She warns: "It is high time to recognise the potential of an alcohol excess induced epidemic of cardiovascular disease before it is too late."

Irish Times

Councillors back new alcohol and drugs strategy

Backing for a new alcohol and drugs strategy for Aberdeenshire came from Members of the Marr Area Committee this week.
The support came after members received a report, containing some stark figures about alcohol abuse by young people and had recounted some experiences from their own areas.

The new, three-year campaign, set to be launched next year, also has the backing of Grampian Police, NHS Grampian and agencies such as Alcohol Support Limited, Drugs Action Limited, Turning Point Scotland Limited and the Scottish Prisons Service.

At their meeting in Huntly, members were told in the report from the Aberdeenshire Alcohol and Drug Action Team that the local authority's area faced "deep-seated problems, due to the problematic use of alcohol and other drugs, that directly and indirectly threaten the wellbeing and economic prospects of our country."

The report said that Scotland had one of the highest per capita rates of drug-related deaths in the world and, in Aberdeenshire, about " 10 such deaths come to the attention of authorities each year."

The report said also that the toll of alcohol-related deaths "had quadrupled in Scotland in the past 10 years."

The report said that alcohol caused more harm in Aberdeenshire than other drugs and the problems were compounded because of the rural nature of the area, making the provision of a wide range of services difficult to deliver.

About 25 percent of the prison population in Aberdeenshire and 85 percent of all crimes are thought to be related to alcohol or drugs and, for 60 percent of prisoners under the age of 24, alcohol was at the root of their offences.

The cost to Scotland as a whole, of alcohol and drugs, was estimated at between two and six billion pounds, with related healthcare costs in Grampian alone estimated at £20m.

The strategy drawn up to tackle the problem will operate on a number of fronts, including early interventions for children and young people, who start to experiment with alcohol or other drugs, in a bid to prevent it from becoming a serious problem. The plan will also aim to improve access to treatment and support and provide a broader range of mainstream community services.

ADAT team member Ian Strachan, presenting the report, told members that some parents were taking the attitude that they would rather their children were drinking alcohol than taking drugs.

Chairwoman Moira Ingleby said that abuse of alcohol was not just a young people's problem. She said that many older people were drinking at home "and possibly unwittingly influencing their children."

Donside Today

Scottish doctors want new laws to tackle alcohol problems

BMA Scotland wants end to irresponsible loss-leading

New laws must be introduced to tackle alcohol misuse in Scotland, doctors have argued.

The British Medical Association (BMA) Scotland has responded to the government’s proposals on tackling alcohol-related problems by claiming that the drinks industry’s voluntary measures have failed because of a “conflict of interest”.

Instead it calls for immediate legislation and practical action.

However, the off-trade is very much the focus for the BMA. In its response it calls for an end to deep discounting and loss leading promotions, as well as two-for-one offers.

The BMA also supports the debate around raising the minimum age for off-trade sales to 21.

And it supports separate checkouts for alcohol sales in supermarkets.

It also calls for prices to be increased "in direct correlation to the alcohol cotent of each product".

Dr Peter Terry, chairman of BMA Scotland said: “The facts are simple - voluntary measures implemented by the drinks industry are not effective and do not reduce the damage of alcohol misuse in Scotland.

“The Scottish Government must re-evaluate its relationship with the drinks industry which clearly has a conflict of interest and is flouting the current voluntary measures.”

However Terry admitted that “no single policy will solve the problem”.

He added: “If the Scottish government wants to tackle Scotland’s drinking problem, it needs a comprehensive strategy that is fully resourced and followed through.

“We need to let retailers and the drinks industry know we mean business. Selling to alcohol to under-18s and irresponsible alcohol promotion will not be ignored in Scotland any longer.”

A similar consultation, being conducted by Department of Health, is currently underway in England. The point of the consultation is to form a policy to encourage people to “drink sensibly” and “prevent irresponsible practices”.

The Publican