Alcohol-related brain damage

Alcohol-related brain damage warning

International experts are warning that one in five New Zealanders faces alcohol-related brain damage from our heavy drinking culture.

It is estimated 800,000 New Zealanders binge drink regularly placing them at high risk of alcohol related brain damage.

Chief executive of Australian based organisation, Alcohol Related Brain Injury Australian Services ( ARBIAS ), Sonia Burton says it is critical that New Zealanders wake up to the issue.

“It’s almost like boxing, you know, it’s like taking a blow to the brain every time you binge drink,” she says.

For young people the statistics are even worse – with 50% of those under 25 binge drinking regularly.

“That’s half your future generation that is placing themselves at risk of alcohol related brain damage,” she says.

“We are growing a real problem for ourselves,” she says.

Full story at New Zealand TV

See also;

• Alcohol intervention may help.
• Alcohol Related Brain Injury
• A Problem Shared is a Problem Halved

Adults Give Booze To Youth

40 Percent of Young Drinkers Say Adults Supplied the Booze

About half of U.S. youths under age 21 have consumed alcohol, and of these 40 percent said that they got their drinks for free from an adult during the past month, a new survey finds.

The Associated Press reported June 26 that federal researchers surveyed teens between 2002 and 2006 and found that about one in four got their alcohol from an unrelated adult, about 6 percent got alcohol from a parent or guardian, and about 8 percent received their drinks from another adult family member. About 4 percent of those surveyed said they took alcohol from their own home.

”In far too many instances parents directly enable their children’s underage drinking — in essence encouraging them to risk their health and well-being,” said acting Surgeon General Steven K. Galson. ”Proper parental guidance alone may not be the complete solution to this devastating public-health problem — but it is a critical part.”

The survey from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration also found that about 20 percent of underage drinkers ages 12-20 had engaged in binge drinking during the past month. About half of those surveyed said they drank in someone else’s home, while 30 percent said they were in their own home and 9.4 percent said they had their last drink in a restaurant, bar or club.

Girls were somewhat more likely to drink at a younger age than boys, but this was reversed as they got older.

From Join Together Online

See also;

• A Problem Shared is a Problem Halved
• Adolescent Children of Alcoholics
• Address the drinking problem directly
• Alcoholic Family Roles

England cricketers to get drink, drug and gambling counselling

England’s best cricketers, including the likes of Andrew Flintoff, are to be offered counselling to combat potential drink, drug and gambling addiction.

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has decided that its international stars should all enrol on a course to protect them from such temptations.

It has been convinced by the Professional Cricketers’ Association (PCA) to put them on its Addictive Behaviour Programme.

The programme will help the top cricketers to “self-manage your own problem(s) and be able to focus on the challenges of playing cricket at the highest level”.

Although cricket has traditionally been above the sort of disreputable behaviour that has dogged other sports, concern has been raised in recent years at the antics of some members of the England team.

Full story at English Cricketers and Drinking

See also;

• A Problem Shared is a Problem Halved
• ALCOHOLISM MYTHS
• Alcohol intervention may help.

Alcohol Orientation 101 at U. of Virginia

University Will Welcome New Students with Alcohol Lessons; Yes, alcohol lessons!

New students arriving at the University of Virginia this summer have the option to participate in the university’s first-ever orientation session devoted specifically to alcohol abuse, the Daily Progress in Charlottesville reported July 20.

In addition to the orientation seminar, students will be asked to go online in the weeks before classes start in late August to complete an hour-long course focusing on facts about binge drinking, alcohol poisoning and sexual assault. “Every year we hear about students across the country dying from alcohol poisoning,” said Susan Bruce, director of the university’s Center for Alcohol and Substance Education. “We don’t want that to happen here.”

University officials say their efforts are focusing largely on correcting student misconceptions about the level of drinking taking place on campus. The orientation session is entitled “UVa Students: Is Everybody Drinking?”, and it already has demonstrated that students tend to overestimate drinking prevalence among peers.

Each of a group of 15 students who attended a recent session held in conjunction with fall class registration believed the school had an equal mix of heavy drinkers and non-drinkers. Yet student surveys on campus have shown that 75 percent of first-year students either drink only modest amounts of alcohol or none at all.

The orientation session also makes reference to other risky behaviors, including sex and smoking. Bruce said that 81 percent of students reported no recent smoking, and for the others the university will introduce a campaign to appeal to students’ financial interests. The campaign’s posters read, “What’s the difference between a smoker and a non-smoker? $1,766″ (the annual estimated cost of cigarettes in the local community).

“We find that the monetary perspective resonates with college kids,” Bruce said.

From Join Together Online

See also;

• Tips for Teens: The Truth About Alcohol

France to Crack Down on Underage Binge Drinking

PARIS: France will ban the sale of alcohol to minors and drinking in public near schools as part of a broad crackdown on binge drinking among youths, the health minister said in an interview published on Sunday.

Roselyne Bachelot said that a recent study showed an over all decline in alcohol consumption among youths but the frequency of drunkenness was increasing.

“Almost half of youths said they had had five glasses of alcohol on a single night on at least one occasion in the previous 30 days, which is the definition of binge drinking,” she said in an interview with Journal du Dimanche newspaper.

She said she was working on a new bill that would also ban promotions known as “open bar” which allow customers to drink as much as they want to for a fixed price.

“We are also going to ban open bars … which are a classic at student parties and which encourage binge drinking,” Bachelot said.

Full story at Alcohol, France

See also;

• Is Your Teen Using Drugs or Drinking?
• Adolescent Children of Alcoholics
• Be there for them when they’re ready