At least 15.3 million persons who have drug use disorders.

Injecting drug use reported in 136 countries, of which 93 report HIV infection among this population.

For every dollar invested in drug treatment, 7 dollars are saved in health and social costs.

Source WHO

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"We have, really, a public health problem that is in some ways becoming epidemic in proportion," Dr. Daniel Angres on the 1/1/03 report on Youth rinking Increase.

List of Preventable Alcohol Poisoning Deaths

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Beer Profits target youth

Harm to Youth-
It's A Brain Thing!
AMA Report on harm to the Brain of Youth who drink alcohol.

NIAAA on Genetic predisposition (runs in the family) and environmental factors

Information for those with a family history of alcoholism/alcohol problems from NIAAA

Action in Recovery!
www.WeRecover.org

Action Alert
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Alcoholics and Underage Drinkers-mean profits for the the alcohol industry according to this report
 Eliminating Problem Drinkers and Underage Illegal Alcohol Consumption (CASA report) shows a loss of  $56.9 billion (49.0 percent) in consumer expenditures for beer, wine and liquor--a painful loss of revenue for the alcohol industry.
 

"A child who reaches age 21 without smoking, abusing alcohol or using drugs is virtually certain never to do so."- Joseph A. Califano, Jr., CASA
 

Alcohol Related News

ALCOHOL ADVERTISING HAS SHIFTED FROM MAGAZINES TO CABLE TV

The Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth at Georgetown University (CAMY), which has monitored alcohol advertising on television and in magazines since 2001, says youth exposure to televised alcohol ads increased by 48 percent from 2001 to 2005, even as magazine advertising fell by 30 percent. A CAMY fact sheet explains that in 2003, the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States and the Beer Institute announced tighter standards for maximum youth audiences for alcohol advertising placements, from 50 percent to 30 percent (70 percent adults). The 2003 standard had an immediate effect on lessening youth exposure to magazine alcohol ads, but television alcohol ads increased on cable television, where audiences are more narrowly segmented than on traditional broadcast TV. The 2003 standard has thus resulted in no decline in total youth exposure to alcohol advertising.

Researchers getting the word out- Alcohol the drug of choice for youth.

A Pire Research report has been released this month bringing more clarity to the role alcohol has played with youth and substance abuse.  The study also indicates that more federal funding is directed to prevent illicit drug use/abuse.  This is an obvious truth to many of us, the real question remains will we get honest with the American people and force lawmakers to do the same?

"More young people drink alcohol than use illegal drugs; in fact, alcohol kills 4 times
more kids than all illegal drugs combined. However, federal funding for preventing drug use is
about 25 times greater than spending on underage drinking prevention."

In a study released today, the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth (CAMY) at Georgetown University found that alcohol companies significantly increased their advertising activity on cable television.  More importantly, the number of cable network alcohol ads that were more likely to be seen by underage youth than adults on a per capita basis rose 97 percent from 2001 to 2004.

CAMY, which is supported by grants from The Pew Charitable Trusts and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, conducted an analysis of more than one million television ads placed between 2001 and 2004 on broadcast, cable and local television and worth almost $3.5 billion.  This analysis shows high levels of underage youth exposure to these ads despite the industry's self-regulation of its marketing and advertising practices and despite repeated public opinion poll findings that parents want their children exposed to less of this advertising. 

"Exposure to alcohol ads influences youth drinking behavior," said CAMY research director David Jernigan, Ph.D.  "Kids need to see fewer of these messages glamorizing alcohol use, not more."

Key findings of the analysis include:

• Overall spending on alcohol advertising on television grew from 2001 to 2004.  Annual expenditures grew from $774 million to $915 million between 2001 and 2004 and totaled almost $3.5 billion during this period. 
  
   
• Spending on cable advertising grew dramatically.  Distilled spirits advertisers increased the number of ads they placed on cable networks by 5,687 percent, from 645 ads in 2001 to 37,328 in 2004.  Distilled spirits advertisers’ spending on cable networks increased 3,392 percent, from $1.5 million to $53.6 million.  At the same time, beer marketers also substantially increased their advertising on cable networks.  The number of beer ads was up 113 percent during this period, from 38,810 ads to 82,559, and beer spending on cable networks increased 54 percent, from $137 million to $211 million.
  
   
• Youth exposure to alcohol advertising shifted to cable television.  Every year from 2001 to 2004, more alcohol advertising reached youth on cable networks than on broadcast networks.  In 2001, youth ages 12 to 20 saw a little more than one alcohol ad for every two seen by adults age 21 and older on broadcast networks.  That ratio had dropped to a little less than one for every two by 2004.  However, on cable television alcohol companies exposed youth to three ads for every four seen by adults in 2001 and increased that ratio to nearly four for every five by 2004.
  
   
• Overexposure of youth to alcohol advertising overall remains constant.  Youth overexposure to alcohol advertising occurs when youth are over-represented in the audience viewing an alcohol ad relative to their presence in the general population, and thus are more likely per capita to see the ad.  Throughout this period, the percentage of alcohol ads on television that were more likely per capita to be seen by underage youth than adults remained relatively stable, with 23 percent falling into that category in 2004.  Almost half (44 percent) of youth exposure to alcohol ads on television in 2004 came from overexposing ads. 
  
   
• Teen programming remains popular with alcohol advertisers.  The CAMY analysis shows that alcohol advertising was seen on all of the 15 shows most popular with teen audiences, ages 12 to 17, each year from 2002 to 2004.
  
   
• The alcohol industry is not meeting its own standards.  The study shows that the voluntary industry guideline restricting placement of ads to shows where 30 percent or less of the audience is under the age of 21 has not been met overall.  While the percentage of alcohol ads on broadcast network television above the 30 percent youth threshold dropped to a negligible 0.4 percent in 2004, the percentage of alcohol ads on cable network television above the 30 percent youth threshold remains high.  In 2004, 13.4 percent of the alcohol industry’s ads on cable exceeded the industry’s own standard.  In fact, the number of cable network alcohol ads above the 30 percent youth threshold actually increased to 18,027 in 2004, up from 9,235 in 2001.

"Parents, families and teachers face the tragic consequences of teen alcohol use every day," said Jernigan.  "Alcohol companies need to adopt more effective standards to protect our kids from exposure to a barrage of advertisements for a product they are not allowed to purchase."

# # #

The Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth (www.camy.org ) at Georgetown University monitors the marketing practices of the alcohol industry to focus attention and action on industry practices that jeopardize the health and safety of America’s youth.  The Center is supported by grants from The Pew Charitable Trusts and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. 

How Alcohol and your body mix--Dr. Marc A. Schuckit of the Veterans Affairs Health Care System in San Diego, "If you require more alcohol to get an effect, that is you're not very sensitive to the effects of alcohol, in that situation you're more likely when you seek out a high, to drink more alcohol than other people do. And this low response to alcohol, a relative insensitivity to alcohol, is associated with the alcoholism risk."

Native Americans gain resources in their efforts to prevent the cycle of alcohol abuse.
The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism gave a five-year, $3.7 million grant to the University’s Child and Family Center to establish an Adolescent Transitions Program (ATP) for three West Coast Native American tribes.  The grant will affect approximately 300 tribal families by providing parenting support services that will help curtail substance abuse in adolescence.  More

Genetics and Alcohol
Eighty-five thousand Americans suffer from alcohol-related deaths each year. The annual economic toll is $185 billion. Researchers are looking for genetic clues behind excessive drinking, especially among young people.  read entire story

Alcohol-Free Cultural events requested in New Hampshire!
MANCHESTER — Listening to music at an alcohol-free club or attending museum or cultural events are some of the things 18- to 20-year-old readers told the New Hampshire Union Leader they would like to do in Manchester read more


CDC AND HARVARD COMPLETE STUDY ON CAMPUS DRINKING

A new national study compares drinking behavior among college students and other adults. The study combined data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) and the Harvard School of Public Health College Alcohol Survey (CAS). Campus binge drinking was found to be lower in States with fewer adult binge drinkers and stronger alcohol control laws. Binge drinking was about one-third lower in the 10 States with the lowest rates of adult binge drinking than in the 10 States with the highest. In addition, binge drinking rates were almost one-third lower in seven States that had four or more laws targeting high-volume sales of alcohol than in States that did not. In a news release, Toben F. Nelson of the Harvard School of Public Health, says “What we discovered is that a student who goes to school in a state with fewer adult binge drinkers is less likely to be a binge drinker. These states also tended to have well-developed alcohol control policies. The good news is that if more states and communities take relatively straightforward actions–such as enacting laws that discourage high volume sales–they could see fewer drinking problems on college campuses and in their broader populations as well.” The article is titled “The State Sets the Rate: The Relationship Among State-Specific College Binge Drinking, State Binge Drinking Rates, and Selected State Alcohol Control Policies” and appears in the March issue of American Journal of Public Health (Vol. 95, pp. 441-446). To access the news release as well as the study abstract, click on http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/cas/Documents/state/state_pr.html.

NIAAA- Survey shows, People Recover from Alcoholism.
More than one-third (35.9 percent) of U.S. adults with alcohol dependence (alcoholism) that began more than one year ago are now in full recovery, according to an article in the current issue of Addiction. The fully recovered individuals show symptoms of neither alcohol dependence nor alcohol abuse and either abstain or drink at levels below those known to increase relapse risk, read more in WeRecover News


AIR FORCE BASE “0-0-3-1” CAMPAIGN WORKING TO REDUCE UNDERAGE DRINKING
According to a USA Today article, last spring a Wyoming nuclear missile base implemented a marketing and education campaign, “0-0-1-3,” to combat alcohol abuse. Colonel Evan Hoapili, who set up the program on F.E. Warren Air Force Base, states that alcohol abuse is “a health crisis. And in the military, it is a readiness issue.” The campaign slogan stands for zero underage drinking, zero drunken-driving arrests, one drink per hour, and no more than three drinks per night. The penalties for repeat offenders are public discipline, demotion, and discharge. Alcohol screening and education and treatment for abusers are provided as well. Underage drinking on the base has declined 81 percent since the start of the program, and alcohol-related incidents overall have declined 74 percent. According to Colonel Hoapili, “There is a stereotype that if you’re old enough to die for your country, you’re old enough to drink. If you’re going to tell people that alcohol is not the way to go, you have to give them something else to do.” The campaign has attracted the attention of higher Air Force officials and has the potential to be implemented nationally. The 0-0-1-3 slogan is designed in graffiti-style script backed by purple flames and appears all over the base on posters, window decals, key-chain fobs, napkin-holder cards in the mess hall, and the weekly base newspaper. The program includes alcohol-free activities for underage personnel, such as pizza parties, midnight basketball-and-music sessions (“Hip-Hop Hoops”), paintball, movie and cartoon fests, club nights with DJs, and group outings off base. The USA Today article is available at http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-01-25-booze-base-usat_x.htm.

WHO TO STUDY WAYS TO FIGHT WORLDWIDE ALCOHOL ABUSE  The World Health Organization (WHO) plans to conduct a 2-year study of strategies to reduce worldwide alcohol abuse, in response to a call from the European Union and others. A recent WHO report documents the high health and social costs of alcohol abuse worldwide, and states that alcohol use by young people is rising around the world. The report attributes the causes of the increased youth drinking to greater availability of alcohol, aggressive marketing to young people, and “a breakdown in the lines of authority and taboos related to age.” The new study will include recommendations. See http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6848865/ for a news article. The WHO report is at http://www.who.int/gb/ebwha/pdf_files/EB115/B115_37-en.pdf.

Nascar is the latest and greatest for promoting one side of Alcohol In recent weeks a decision was made to expand the marketing power of Big Alcohol.  The decision to allow hard liquor ads on racecars, considering impaired driving problems across the country, one would think that this would have created a media stir and bad PR-  Teflon Industry it seems can ward off such attempts.  The alcohol industry is a business, they have little regulation (self regulated) for marketing, and make billions of dollars each year.  Marketing is done to increase sales, not community safety.  NASCAR should realize a day is coming where those impacted by addiction and other alcohol harms will take action to stop these environmental risks that support an "anti-recovery" oriented society.  Money does not drive people with a desire to live safe and healthy lives and this is the core problem in across the country.  Alcohol Industries use the money made to ward off regulatory efforts, which in turn allows them to provide virtually zero disclosure about predictable harm in the advertising that saturates our communities.  Responsibility promotions are a joke, most people who drink do so, and that is not profitable.  Normalizing alcohol allows the industry to continue to reap profits off of the vulnerable while discounting they have done anything to cause harm, to claim the opposite.  Problem drinkers/alcoholics can't drink responsible.  That is not mentioned, ever by this industry.   If all the problem drinkers and underage drinkers ceased to exist, alcohol industry profits would be cut 60%.  Article on NASCAR and BOOZE

New Article on Genetics and Alcohol Consumption

Alcohol Overdose Death of LSU Student, Cory Domangue brings Vigil Remembering his Life. 

Article in the Advocate        Pictures from the Vigil        Louisiana News    

HopeNetworks & Louisiana Alliance to Prevent Underage Drinking Press Release
 See Press Release


 

According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), 2.6 million young people do not know that a person can die of an overdose of alcohol. Alcohol poisoning occurs when a person drinks a large quantity of alcohol in a short amount of time.  More Information On College Drinking


Alcohol Poisoning/Overdose Deaths  Overwhelming U.S. Colleges This month has been deadly for binge-drinking college students. Five underclassmen in four states appear to have drunk themselves to death, police say, after friends sent their pals to bed assuming that they would "sleep it off."  This Article in the USA Today explains the ongoing tragic alcohol deaths of the young people listed below.

All of these students, last seen drinking heavily, were found dead:

• Samantha Spady, 19, of Beatrice, Neb., was found Sept. 5 in a Colorado State University fraternity.

• Lynn Gordon Bailey Jr., 18, of Dallas, was found Sept. 17 at a University of Colorado fraternity house.

• Thomas Ryan Hauser, 23, a junior from Springfield, Va., was found Sept. 19 in his apartment near Virginia Tech.

• Blake Adam Hammontree, 19, of Medford, Okla., was found Sept. 30 in a fraternity house at the University of Oklahoma.

• Bradley Barrett Kemp, 20, of McGehee, Ark., was found at home Saturday at the University of Arkansas.

Read the entire series of articles from Denver Post related to the alcohol harms to college students.

Two College Students Die in less than a Month in Colarado
CU and LSU dealing with Binge Drinking Deaths and the Toxic Cultures of their College Towns-

This was the scene at Murphy's Bar, a block from the Louisiana State University campus in Baton Rouge, on Aug. 25, 1997: Ten fraternity pledges were passed out on the floor where their new brothers had taken them to celebrate acceptance into Sigma Alpha Epsilon. They were loaded into grocery carts, wheeled back to the fraternity house and piled into a room.

Critics say the binge drinking is stoked by the bars and liquor stores that target students through volume discounts.  Liquor companies - through promotions, advertising and corporate sponsorships - have become linked with good health and a good time, said Jessica Webster, whose brother Taylor, a student at CSU, died two years ago of alcohol poisoning. Entire Article

CSU student could be Larimer County's 5th victim in 2 years
There is no antidote to alcohol intoxication as there is for heroin or other drugs.
By Bill Scanlon, Rocky Mountain News    September 8, 2004
Alcohol poisoning - acute ethanol intoxication - has killed four people in Larimer County in the past two years. Samantha Spady, 19, is presumably the fifth. Read More

LSU  College Students and Alcohol Deaths