Lancet urges parents to act on underage drinking

Parents should take the greatest share of responsibility for steering teenagers away from binge drinking, according to an editorial in the Lancet. It said underage drinking had risen substantially during the past 10 years, and nearly one-third of teenagers were now binge drinkers.

Early abuse of alcohol increased the risk of serious health problems for teenagers, with more falling prey to fatal accidents, self-harm, suicide, violent behaviour, unprotected sex, alcohol dependence and liver disease, the journal said. Learning to enjoy alcohol, in moderation, was "an important part of growing up" in many societies, but it was a lesson not being taught in the UK.

In Britain and Ireland, young people are drinking more than ever before - and often substantially more than in the US, France and Mediterranean countries. According to the Lancet, 27% of British 15-year-olds admit to having had at least five alcoholic drinks in a row in the past month, up from 22% in 1995, and 29% of teenage girls binge drink. Nearly half of the alcohol drunk by young people comes from the family home, with the rest from supermarkets, shops, off-licences and bars.

"The biggest share, and burden, of the partnership must fall on parents and guardians who should take greater responsibility for teaching children about drinking safely. Creating a culture in which alcohol is enjoyed in moderation, perhaps diluted, and is drunk with food as part of sharing a meal together rather than drunk alone, is helpful. For a healthy younger generation, society's relationship with alcohol has to change, beginning in the home," the journal said.

The government is due to publish its Youth Alcohol Action Plan later this year, which aims to tackle parental alcohol misuse and improve alcohol education in schools. "Unless the UK government bans alcohol advertising, substantially raises taxes on alcohol, restricts its availability and seriously debates increasing the legal purchasing age to 21, an opportunity will be lost," the editorial said.

Alcohol taxes did go up in Wednesday's budget, adding 4p on beer, 14p on wine and 55p on spirits. Nigel Evans, the Tory MP for Ribble Valley and vice chairman of the all-party beer group, said the extra tax on beer would not tackle binge drinking, but would accelerate pub closures.

The Lancet said young people who misused alcohol often had symptoms of conduct disorder, anxiety, or depression, some of which may be signs of future alcohol dependence. Parents who misused alcohol or who had broken relationships with their children increased the chances of their sons and daughters drinking.

Adults should be willing to intervene when necessary. "It should not be acceptable for doctors, teachers or parents to turn a blind eye or offer no follow-up when a child is in hospital with a head injury after drinking, when a teenager truants to drink, or when a 15-year-old goes to bed drunk," the editorial added.

source: The Guardian

Alcoholics Anonymous holding meetings on campus

After a three-year hiatus, Alcoholics Anonymous is once again holding open support group meetings on campus, a convenient location for students and community members to help each other achieve sobriety.

The new chapter joined an ever-growing roster of over 100,000 groups in 180 countries, according to the AA Web site. An estimated 1.5 million people worldwide have achieved sobriety through AA.

In 2007, 21 percent of college students between the ages of 18 and 22 met the American Psychiatric Association criteria for alcohol abuse or dependence, according to a study by the organization. Yet, only 4 percent of these students sought treatment.

"Across the nation, this is an issue for students," said Alisa Guglielmo, director of student life for Santa Clara's law school. "Because it is an issue in society, having it available to those in this community is a great idea."

During a campus wellness fair earlier this year, Guglielmo was approached by a graduate student who was interested in starting regular AA meetings on campus. Guglielmo arranged for a room in Benson, but that is where the university's connection to the program ended. AA is unaffiliated with any and all outside organizations.

The student, a member of AA himself, requested anonymity for press purposes in keeping with AA's firm commitment to maintaining the privacy of its members.

Essential to AA's mission is the principle that the only thing required for membership is a desire to stop drinking. In fact, the only thing standing between an alcoholic and attending their first meeting is their ability to admit that they need help.

"It's tough to define an alcoholic," the student said. "The simplest definition is someone who is physically and mentally incapable of just having one drink, or physically and mentally incapable of stopping."

AA's Web site describes alcoholism as an illness, "a physical compulsion combined with a mental obsession to drink," and not a matter of moral weakness or lack of willpower.

Warning signs can include brushes with the law for alcohol-related issues, engaging in physical or sexual behavior that is later regretted, driving while under the influence and frequent "blackouts" or vomiting after drinking to excess, said the student.

Since classes began in early January, there have been 13 incidents of illness due to excessive alcohol consumption in which students were involved, according to Campus Safety reports. In nine of these cases, the night ended with a trip to a local hospital.

Several campus organizations provide professional support services for students who are concerned about their alcohol or drug use, including Cowell Health Center, Counseling and Psychological Services and the Wellness Center. The staff within these departments can also refer students to outside agencies, including AA.

People who speak at AA meetings are members who engage in discussion about their personal struggles with alcohol addiction and the tools that helped them recover. A good meeting, said the student, is not in the quantity of participants, but in the quality of the experiences they share.

"It happens when two or more alcoholics are sharing their stories and helping each other to stay sober," he said.

The only structured content the organization provides is the 12-step program, which is based on the experiences of six decades' worth of members, rather than theory and scientific findings.

The steps are used as a suggestion, not a mandate. Individual approaches to healing vary, but the end goal is abstinence.

"Nobody in AA will tell you that you are an alcoholic. At the end of the day, you have to make that decision yourself," said the student.

source: Santa Clara

More time needed to evaluate mandatory detox for youth conference

The effectiveness of locking up addicted teens against their will appears to be successful, but more time is needed to evaluate the programs, say officials from the three Prairie provinces that offer the service.

Legislation on mandatory youth detoxification has been in effect in Alberta and Saskatchewan for more than a year, and for almost a year in Manitoba.

"Youth detox quicker than adults and so this isn't treatment, this is simply getting the drug out of their system and getting them somewhat stabilized in order to move on to another treatment," Lorri Carlson of Regina Qu'Appelle Health Region said Tuesday after a session at a national substance abuse conference.

The legislation came about mainly due to pressure from parents of teens who abused crystal methamphetamine and who felt they had no other way to get their children help.

"It was largely parent-driven," Beverly Mageau of Manitoba Health and Healthy Living told delegates.

Since Manitoba's program began last December, Mageau said only about three per cent of the 57 teens forced into detox have reported crystal methamphetamine use. In Saskatchewan, of the 142 teens that have been in the safe house, only 12 reported using crystal meth.

All three provincial programs have found the substances most abused by teens are marijuana, alcohol and crack cocaine.

"It was a big concern, everyone was concerned about crystal meth," Mageau said in an interview.

"We had a lot of discussions and a big crystal meth strategy and maybe that had something to do with it, I don't know, but the result now is crystal meth has not become the problem that was anticipated."

Susan McLean of the Alberta Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission, which runs the safe houses for youth ordered into detox, agreed, saying the numbers for crystal meth are similar in Alberta.

Between July 2006, when Alberta started the program, to April 2007, 351 youth were ordered into safe houses, and 49 per cent continued treatment voluntarily after being let out.

McLean said further evaluation is needed to find out why the other 51 per cent did not want to voluntarily get further help for their addictions.

All three provincial programs target teens under 18. While the legislation is worded differently, all essentially allow parents and guardians to apply to the court to have their child assessed and ordered into secure detoxification for a specified period. Saskatchewan is the only jurisdiction to allow police to apply for the order.

In Alberta and Saskatchewan, it's up to five days, while in Manitoba it's seven days.

Saskatchewan can have more time to help teens because their certificates, or orders, can be renewed up to three times, for a total of 15 days," Carlson said.

"The longer that they're in youth detox, we find, the more willing they are to go voluntary treatment, so if we see some growth we actually can keep them a little longer."

Heather Clark of the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse told delegates that they have found some obstacles to the programs.

They include community opposition to having a safe house in their neighbourhood; transporting youth to and from the safe houses; having enough addictions specialists to perform assessments; and high turnover of staff.

A health worker from Nova Scotia told people at the session the legislation is a great idea.

"When I first heard of this a year and a half ago, I cheered. I'm a parent, this makes total common sense to me as a parent," said Blair Gallant of Capital Health in Dartmouth.

"I wish I was in one of these three provinces, where I would have somewhere to turn. In the province I currently live in, I don't.

"My son would just run the streets, which is unfortunate, because a lot of people think he should just run the streets because he has rights," he said to laughter from the crowd.

Clark said all three provinces are collaborating to share information and to evaluate their programs so as to make it better.

"When these facilities first opened, there were a lot of questions, like, OK, does it work? Right now we actually need to learn about our target group, assess them and make sure we have the services in place before we start to ask those questions, and that takes time."

author: Mary Jo Laforest

source: The Canadian Press

It may give you wings, but mixing with booze puts drinkers in danger

YOUNG drinkers could be putting themselves at risk by downing alcohol mixed with energy drinks, new research suggested yesterday.

Mixing drinks such as Red Bull (slogan: It gives you wings) with spirits has become a popular way of boosting energy levels to keep clubbers dancing all night.

But a new study, involving more than 4,000 students, found that drinking cocktails of alcohol and energy drinks doubled the risk of clubbers getting hurt or taken advantage of sexually.

Campaigners warned that more information was needed on the potential risks of mixing alcohol and energy drinks, which often contain high levels of caffeine and other ingredients.

As well as Red Bull, which sold more than three billion cans worldwide last year, popular energy drinks in the UK include Irn-Bru 32 and Lucozade.

The latest study, which was carried out by researchers at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Centre in the United States, questioned 4,271 college students about their drinking habits and the consequences.

They found that of those who had drunk alcohol in the previous 30 days, a quarter (24 per cent) said they had consumed energy cocktails.

Compared with students who did not mix alcohol and energy drinks, this group were twice as likely to be hurt or injured after drinking, twice as likely to need medical attention and twice as likely to travel with a drunken driver.

They also faced double the risk of either taking sexual advantage of someone else, or being taken advantage of themselves.

The cocktails also seemed to affect the amount they drank.

In a typical drinking session, those on mixed drinks drank up to 36 per cent more than the other students. They also reported twice as many episodes of weekly drunkenness.

Dr Mary Claire O'Brien, lead researcher on the study, said: "We knew anecdotally - from speaking with students, and from researching internet blogs and websites - that college students mix energy drinks and alcohol in order to drink more, and to drink longer.

"But we were surprised that the risk of serious and potentially deadly consequences is so much higher for those who mixed energy drinks with alcohol," she continued, "even when we adjusted for the amount of alcohol."

Dr O'Brien said that mixing caffeine with alcohol was like "getting into a car and stepping on the gas pedal and the brake at the same time".

"Students whose motor skills, visual reaction times, and judgment are impaired by alcohol may not perceive that they are intoxicated as readily when they're also ingesting a stimulant," she said. "Only the symptoms of drunkenness are reduced - but not the drunkenness.

"They can't tell if they're drunk; they can't tell if someone else is drunk. So they get hurt, or they hurt someone else."

Dr O'Brien said some energy drinks could contain as much as 300 milligrams of caffeine.

The researcher, speaking at the annual meeting of the American Public Health Association in Washington DC, called for students to be informed of the risks of mixing alcohol with energy drinks.

Frank Soodeen, spokesman for the charity Alcohol Concern, said there was a growing popularity in mixing energy drinks with alcohol.

But he added there was currently very little information on the consequences.

"There isn't a great deal of information on what levels of drinking are doing to young people, including the impact of mixing alcohol with energy drinks.

"We need clear guidance for young people and parents over what impact different levels of drinking can have.

"We have heard that people do often mix alcohol with these energy drinks and if that is a concern, we need to find out more about it."

• ENERGY drinks often contain a mixture of ingredients, such as caffeine, vitamins and herbs.

Some products also include guarana - extracts from the guarana plant - ginseng and ginkgo biloba.

Many have high levels of sugar to help boost energy levels.

But caffeine remains the main energy-boosting ingredient, with an average energy-drink serving containing about the same amount as a small cup of coffee.

Last year, research showed that about 65 per cent of energy-drink users were under the age of 35.

But there has been criticism over the potential health effects of drinking large amounts of caffeine.

France banned the sale of the popular Red Bull brand following the death of an 18-year-old who played basketball shortly after consuming several cans of the drink. An inquest ruled that he died from Sudden Adult Death Syndrome.

Denmark has also banned the drink.

source: http://news.scotsman.com/

Alcoholism stalks college students

Party habits can quietly become lifelong

Young people going off to college and getting drunk a lot is a national problem. Now comes finding a solution.

Rendie Skaggs, 19, part of a student group working to reduce alcohol abuse among college students, agrees that student culture encourages drinking.

“There is more of a set culture in college towns,” she said. “There are more parties and more drinking.”

As secretary and senate representative with the NSU chapter of BACCHUS (Boosting Alcohol Consciousness Concerning the Health of University Students), Skaggs said her group tries to equip students with social tools.

“We know we can’t stop college students from drinking, so we inform them about handling alcohol safely, about how much alcohol will cause you to get drunk depending on your body weight, about having a designated driver, and about never going out drinking by yourself,” she said.

Dr. Aaron M. White with Duke University in North Carolina said in a Web page on Duke’s Web site that the college environment promotes, or at least supports, higher than normal levels of alcohol consumption.

“Interestingly, if one looks at the drinking levels of high school students, those bound for college tend to drink less while in high school, but then quickly begin to out-drink their non-college peers once arriving at college,” he said. “Alcohol use then tapers off again once college students graduate.”

White said African-American students drink the least and are more likely to be abstainers than Caucasian students. Latino and Asian students typically fall somewhere in-between.

Skaggs said she has seen students get away from their parents and “go crazy” with partying. But she has seen an equal number who have behaved that way since high school.

“I don’t think they take it seriously,” she said. “They tell themselves ‘When I get out of college, I’ll stop doing this.’ It can be the basis for alcoholism.”

Leslie Crow, director of the John Crow IV Memorial Foundation in Dustin, said their program focuses on environmental strategies.

“The last few years in the prevention field have led up to this way of dealing with environmental factors that make it easier for college students to abuse alcohol,” she said. “In a lot of college towns, it’s easier to buy alcohol. If the student is underage, they are more likely to know someone a couple of years older than them who will buy the alcohol for them. It’s also easier to go to parties and other events where there is no one there to tell you not to abuse alcohol.”

Crow said the foundation works with campus administrators, bars, law enforcement, and city leaders.

“For example, one way for the city to help is to pass a noise ordinance that makes it easier for neighbors to report a loud house party where there may be illegal use of alcohol,” she said.

Crow said they also work with the police so they know all the laws concerning alcohol that might be broken. But, the police need help from the courts.

By Keith Purtell Phoenix Staff Writer
http://www.muskogeephoenix.com/