ICAP Blue Book: Practical Guides for Alcohol Policy and Prevention Approaches

The ICAP Blue Book: Practical Guides for Alcohol Policy and Prevention Approaches offers a comprehensive guide to the key issues in alcohol policy development and an integrated approach to prevention. It draws upon the best available research and experience from around the world.

As a policy guide, the ICAP Blue Book is based on three key elements:

• drinking patterns and their outcomes as a sound scientific basis for policy development;
• targeted interventions that address specific “at-risk” populations, potentially harmful contexts, and drinking patterns;
• partnerships that allow the inclusion of the public and private sectors, the community, civil society, and others all working toward a common goal.

The Blue Book is intended as a tool to assist those seeking guidance in developing policy and prevention approaches, be they governments, intergovernmental organizations, public health officials and specialists, researchers, nongovernmental organizations, the beverage alcohol industry and its related bodies, or civil society groups. It can be used to address simple issues or to craft broader and more comprehensive approaches to policy.

The ICAP Blue Book site

Chronic alcohol use shifts brain’s control of behavior

Chronic alcohol exposure leads to brain adaptations that shift behavior control away from an area of the brain involved in complex decision-making and toward a region associated with habit formation, according to a new study conducted in mice by scientists at the National Institutes of Health.

The finding provides a biological mechanism that helps to explain compulsive alcohol use and the progression to alcohol dependence. A report appears online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

The brain’s prefrontal cortex is involved in decision-making and controlling emotion, while the dorsal striatum is thought to play a key role in motivation and habit formation. Past studies have shown that alcohol dependent individuals show problems with skills mediated by the prefrontal cortex such as impulse control. These same individuals often show exaggerated neural response in the dorsal striatum to alcohol-related cues.

To investigate whether changes in the dorsal striatum might account for these observations, researchers led by Andrew Holmes, Ph.D., in the Laboratory of Laboratory of Behavioral and Genomic Neuroscience at NIAAA, measured changes in the brains of mice that were chronically exposed to alcohol vapors.

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Alcohol Brand Use and Injury in the Emergency Department: A Pilot Study

David H. Jernigan, Samantha Cukier, Craig Ross, Syed Rafay Ahmed and Andrew Stolbach

Substance Use & Misuse
Posted online on August 1, 2013

http://informahealthcare.com/doi/full/10.3109/10826084.2013.817430?prevSearch=allfield%253A%2528jernigan%2529&searchHistoryKey=

In an urban emergency department on weekend nights in 2010 and 2011, 105 interviews assessed feasibility of collecting alcohol brand consumption data from injured patients who drank within 6 h of presentation, with responses to the orally administered survey specifying 331 alcohol brands recorded on a netbook computer. A Kruskal–Wallis test adjusted for tied ranks assessed demographic differences; confidence intervals were created around comparisons with national brand shares. The study found collection of such information feasible; limitations include comparison of national brand market share data with a local sample of drinkers. Funding was provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Pilot Study Finds ER Patients Drinking High-Octane Beer

Study Shows Feasibility of Collecting Alcohol Brand Consumption Data in ER Departments

Five beer brands – Budweiser, Steel Reserve, Colt 45, Bud Ice and Bud Light – were consumed in the highest quantities by emergency room patients, according to a new pilot study from researchers at The Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth (CAMY) at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Three of these are “malt liquors” with higher alcohol content than regular beer.

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Drinkaware 2012 report reviews impact of activities - but will health groups be convinced?

The industry funded alcohol education charity Drinkaware has released a 2012 impact report, detailing its recent activities and reported impacts on target groups.

Drinkaware's existence not surprisingly divides opinions; some health groups are sceptical of indsutry led intiatives, or raise concerns over a policy focus on education based approaches. Earlier this year anindependent audit gave Drinkaware a mixed review of its impact over recent years.

Mor info here

View Report here: https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/media/162901/drinkaware_impact_report_2012.pdf

The Relationship Between Excessive Alcohol Consumption and Alcohol Use Disorders According to DSM-IV and DSM-5

1. Marlous Tuithof, 
2. Margreet ten Have,
3. Wim van den Brink, 

1. Wilma Vollebergh,
2. Ron de Graaf

Alcoholism: Clinical and Experiemntal Research

Article first published online: 19 AUG 2013

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/acer.12248/abstract

Background

Although it seems intuitive that alcohol use disorders (AUDs) include excessive alcohol consumption (EAC), this notion is not well established. This study investigates to which degree EAC (defined as >14/21 drinks weekly for women/men and at least three 5+ drinking days per week) and AUD overlap and whether problematic alcohol use groups (EAC-only, AUD-only, and EAC + AUD) differ from each other and from nonproblematic alcohol users regarding sociodemographics, mental health problems, functioning, and service utilization.

Methods

Data were derived from the Netherlands Mental Health Survey and Incidence Study-2, a population-based study including 5,443 current drinkers (aged 18 to 64) interviewed with the Composite International Diagnostic Interview 3.0. Both DSM-IV AUDs and a proxy of DSM-5 AUD are considered.

Results

Of the current drinkers, 3.8% reported 12-month EAC. Twelve-month prevalence of DSM-IV and DSM-5 AUD were 5.4 and 4.4%, respectively. Regarding DSM-IV, only 17.7% of subjects with AUD reported EAC and 25.3% of those with EAC had an AUD. Compared with nonproblematic alcohol users, the 3 groups of problematic alcohol use (EAC-only, AUD-only, and EAC + AUD) were more often associated with mental health problems, poorer functioning, and service utilization. There were few differences between EAC-only and AUD-only regarding these correlates. However, EAC + AUD had strongest associations with above-mentioned correlates compared with the other 3 groups. Compared with DSM-IV findings, DSM-5 AUDs had slightly larger overlap with EAC, but correlates were similarly associated with problematic alcohol use groups.

Conclusions

Findings indicate limited overlap between EAC and AUD. Yet, both dimensions were similarly associated with other problems suggesting that both should be included in future epidemiological research to detect the total group of problematic alcohol users.

The Effects of the 2006 Russian Alcohol Policy on Alcohol-Related Mortality: An Interrupted Time Series Analysis

1. William Alex Pridemore, 
2. Mitchell B. Chamlin, 
3. Maria T. Kaylen, 
4. Evgeny Andreev

Alcoholism: Clinical and Experiemtanl Research

Article first published online: 16 AUG 2013

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/acer.12256/abstract

Background

The aim of this study was to determine the impact of a set of 2006 Russian alcohol policies on alcohol-related mortality in the country.

Methods

We used autoregressive integrated moving average interrupted time series techniques to model the impact of the policy on the number of sex-specific monthly deaths of those aged 15+ years due to alcohol poisoning, alcoholic cardiomyopathy, alcoholic liver cirrhosis, and alcohol-related mental and behavioral disorders. The time series began in January 2000 and ended in December 2010. The alcohol policy was implemented in January 2006.

Results

The alcohol policy resulted in a significant gradual and sustained decline in male deaths due to alcohol poisoning (ω_o = −92.631,p < 0.008, δ₁ = 0.883, p < 0.001) and in significant immediate and sustained declines in male (ω₀ = −63.20, p < 0.05) and female (ω₀ = −64.28, p < 0.005) deaths due to alcoholic liver cirrhosis.

Conclusions

The 2006 suite of alcohol policies in Russia was responsible for an annual decline of about 6,700 male alcohol poisoning deaths and about 760 male and about 770 female alcoholic liver cirrhosis deaths. Without the alcohol policy, male alcohol poisoning deaths would have been 35% higher and male and female alcoholic liver cirrhosis deaths would have been 9 and 15% higher, respectively. We contextualize our findings in relation to declining mortality in Russia and to results from recent studies of the impact of this law on other causes of death.

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Status report on alcohol and health in 35 European countries 2013

People in the WHO European Region consume the most alcohol per head in the world. In the European Union (EU), alcohol accounts for about 120 000 premature deaths per year: 1 in 7 in men and 1 in 13 in women. Most countries in the Region have adopted policies, strategies and plans to reduce alcohol-related harm. In 2012, the WHO Regional Office for Europe collected information on alcohol consumption and related harm, and countries policy responses to contribute to the Global Information System for Alcohol and Health; this report presented a selection of the results for 35 countries – EU Member States and candidate countries, Norway and Switzerland – individually and in groups distinguished by their drinking patterns and traditions.

Download (PDF)

Alcohol Policy Information System

 

   http://alcoholpolicy.niaaa.nih.gov/

The Alcohol Policy Information System (APIS) provides detailed information on a wide variety of alcohol-related policies in the US at both State and Federal levels. Detailed, state-by-state, information is available for the 33 policies listed below. Also provides a variety of informational resources of interest to alcohol policy researchers and others involved with alcohol policy issues.

Alcohol y Conductas Ilícitas

Existe una fuerte asociación entre las conductas ilícitas y el consumo de drogas, pues a escala nacional el 60 por ciento de los delitos son cometidos por consumidores de sustancias psicoactivas.

• 65% de quienes están privados de su libertad son poli-consumidores (ingieren alcohol y al menos dos drogas más).

• 55% de los menores infractores reportan el uso de alguna sustancia ilícita o de bebidas embriagantes.

• Las drogas que más se asocian con la comisión de delitos son el alcohol, la cocaína y los derivados de las metanfetaminas.

Berenice Santamaría González, 

Directora de Vinculación y Coordinación Operativas, CONADIC.

Primer Seminario sobre  Justicia Terapéutica: Una alternativa en desarrollo.

Más información en CENADIC

http://www.cenadic.salud.gob.mx/prensa/2013/legalizacion_090813.html

Helping Yourself to Recovery

• August 6, 2013
• Bill White

Helping Yourself to Recovery

Helping others has been an integral part of the folk wisdom about addiction recovery for more than 250 years.  From early Native American recovery circles, early Euro-American recovery mutual aid societies and the 20th century advent of 12-Step recovery through the ever-widening menu of religious, spiritual and secular recovery pathways, the message has been clear:  help yourself by helping others.  The helping prescription is based on two core ideas.  The first is the concept of wounded healer--the notion that people who have experienced and survived an illness or great trauma may have acquired unique perspectives that allow them to offer assistance to others in similar circumstances.  The second is what sociologist Frank Riessman called the helper principle--the idea that the act of helping benefits the helper as much (or quite often more) than the person being helped.   

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Does Science Show What 12 Steps Know?

Data seem to support the 12-step program's benefits for addicts.

Jarret Liotta

for National Geographic

Published August 9, 2013

Science has never revealed as much about addiction—potential genetic causes, influences, and triggers, and the resultant brain activity—or offered as many opportunities and methods for initial treatment as it does now.

Even so, the grassroots 12-step program remains the preferred prescription for achieving long-term sobriety.

Since the inception of Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.)—the progenitor of 12-step programs—science has sometimes been at odds with the notion that laypeople can cure themselves.

Yet the success of the 12-step approach may ultimately be explained through medical science and psychology. Both offer substantive reasons for why it works.

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Adicciones: Retos de la investigación para informar a las políticas públicas. Dra. Medina-Mora

Miércoles 14 de agosto, 12:00hrs

Auditorio de la Unidad de Posgrado 

Serie de Conferencias Magistrales organizadas por la Coordinación de Estudios de Posgrado de la UNAM

A Randomized Controlled Trial of Brief Motivational Interviewing in Impaired Driving Recidivists

Marie Claude Ouimet, Maurice Dongier, Ivana Di Leo, Lucie Legault, Jacques Tremblay, Florence Chanut, Thomas G. Brown

Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research

Article first published online: 29 JUL 2013

Open Article


Background

In a previously published randomized controlled trial (Brown et al. Alcohol Clin Exp Res 2010; 34, 292–301), our research team showed that a 30-minute brief motivational interviewing (BMI) session was more effective in reducing percentages of risky drinking days in drunk driving recidivists than a control information–advice intervention at 12-month follow-up. In this sequel to the initial study, 2 main hypotheses were tested: (i) exposure to BMI increases the time to further arrests and crashes compared with exposure to the control intervention (CTL) and (ii) characteristics, such as age, moderate the benefit of BMI.

Methods

A sample of 180 community-recruited recidivists who had drinking problems participated in the study. Participants gave access to their provincial driving records at baseline and were followed up for a mean of 1,684.5 days (SD = 155.7) after randomization to a 30-minute BMI or CTL session. Measured outcomes were driving arrests followed by convictions including driving while impaired (DWI), speeding, or other moving violations as well as crashes. Age, readiness to change alcohol consumption, alcohol misuse severity, and number of previous DWI convictions were included as potential moderators of the effect of the interventions.

Results

For arrests, Cox proportional hazards modeling revealed no significant differences between the BMI and the CTL group. When analyses were adjusted to age tertile categories, a significant effect of BMI in the youngest age tertile (<43 years old) emerged. For crashes, no between-group differences were detected.

Conclusions

BMI was better at delaying DWI and other dangerous traffic violations in at-risk younger drivers compared with a CTL similar to that provided in many remedial programs. BMI may be useful as an opportunistic intervention for DWI recidivism prevention in settings such as DWI courts. Treatment effectiveness studies are needed to ascertain how the present findings generalize to the real-world conditions of mandated relicensing programs.

Mezcal. Arte tradicional

La sabiduría del mezcal

Melissa Herrera

http://artesdemexico.com/adm/09/index.php/adem/cont-ed/la_sabiduria_del_mezcal/

El mezcal, al igual que el tequila, el nopal o el maíz, es un símbolo de identidad nacional.
Como la mayoría de nosotros, se lo conoce como una bebida destilada, sin embargo cuenta también con otros dos significados: se le asocia también con el maguey cocido o incluso con algunas especies de esta planta.

El mezcal se relaciona con la vida cotidiana de muchos mexicanos gracias a sus rituales y leyendas, pero sobre todo gracias a sus valores sociales y simbólicos.

En esta publicación de Artes de México queremos compartir su historia, analizar su anatomía, explicar su geografía y origen, descubrir sus funciones, usos y secretos. Y, de esta manera, acercar a nuestro lector a su cultura. Para cumplir con este propósito hemos publicado historias, relatos y testimonios de personas, a las que agradecemos haber compartido con nosotros sus conocimientos y experiencias con el mezcal.

Para saber más sobre este tema.

Colaboradores / Contributors: Laura Almendros López, Graciela Ángeles Carreño, Patricia Colunga García Marín, Mariza Cuevas Sagardí, Phillip E. Coyle, Mary Jane Gagnier, Abisaí Josué García-Mendoza, Fernando González Zozaya, Catarina Illsley Granich, Manuel Matus Manzo, Ángeles Olay Barrientos, Gabriela Olmos, Carlos Pineda, Rafael Platas Ruiz, Fausto Rasero, Santiago Ruy Sánchez, Ulises Torrentera, Rafael Vargas, Daniel Zizumbo Villarreal

Artes de México se interna en los agrestes paisajes de la tierra del mezcal para ofrecer un magnífico recorrido a través de su geografía, historia, tradición y vida cotidiana, y también presenta la visión de los artistas plásticos que se han dejado seducir por el aroma y sabor de esta bebida

http://artesdemexico.com/adm/09/index.php/adem/publicaciones/mezcal._arte_tradicional/

"No se ha podido controlar el consumo del tabaco ni del alcohol por la falta de condiciones" - Dr. Cano Valle

Sería irracional y adictos rebasarían capacidad sanitaria, advierte la Conadic



El coordinador del Consejo Nacional contra las Adicciones (Conadic), Fernando Cano Valle, reiteró ayer la advertencia de que “sería irracional” legalizar la mariguana, pues por la magnitud de los daños que ésta provoca el país carece de capacidad sanitaria para la demanda de atención y de recursos económicos para la rehabilitación de los adictos a la misma.

En el país –dijo— no se ha podido controlar el consumo del tabaco ni del alcohol por la falta de condiciones; sin embargo, esto no se toma en cuenta en el debate a favor de la legalización de la mariguana.

Cano Valle hizo declaraciones luego de la inauguración del primer seminario internacional “La justicia terapéutica, una alternativa en desarrollo”.

Añadió:

“No hay control del tabaco en México. No hay control del alcohol en México y ahora se quiere incorporar una adicción que es la marihuana, con un propósito, cualquiera que sea… pero no es razonable desde el punto de vista de la salud”.

Más información aquí

SBIRT For Adolescents - IRETA's Webinar Wednesdays

Wednesday, August 14, 2013
1:00 PM - 4:00 PM Eastern
SBIRT For Adolescents
Overview: Substance use by adolescents is a significant public health problem and is associated with both acute and long term health problems. The American Academy of Pediatrics and other organizations recommend routine screening and brief intervention to prevent or reduce substance use as part of routine care for adolescents. This presentation will 1) review the impact of substance use on the developing brain with particular focus on alcohol and marijuana; 2) review the use of validated screening tools for adolescent substance use and present a brief motivational intervention strategy targeted at reducing substance use by high risk adolescents.

Objectives: After this presentation, participants will be able to
1. Identify the impacts of alcohol and marijuana on the developing brain
2. Use appropriate screening tools to identify risk levels associated with adolescent substance use
3. Propose steps and recommended language for an appropriate intervention for each

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Register

10th Annual Conference of INEBRIA

Conference: "Brief interventions on alcohol and other drugs: improving health and the quality of health services provision"

19th - 20th September 2013
More information here

Lifecourse Socioeconomic Position and Alcohol Use in Young Adulthood: Results from the French TEMPO Cohort Study

1. Ahmed Yaogo, 
2. Eric Fombonne, 
3. Seni Kouanda, 
4. France Lert, 
5. Maria Melchior

1. 1. Alcohol and Alcoholism (2013)

      
      

      First published online: July 30, 2013
      July/August 2013 48 (4)

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1. http://alcalc.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2013/07/29/alcalc.agt128.short?rss=1

1. Aims: The aim of the study was to examine the relationship between lifetime socioeconomic position and alcohol use in young adults.

1. Methods: The participants (n = 1103, age 22–35 years in 2009) were the French TEMPO cohort, offspring of employees (all French nationals) of the French national gas and electricity company (GAZEL) who were in a previous cohort study. Alcohol use was assessed by the WHO AUDIT questionnaire (none, low or intermediate alcohol use, alcohol abuse). Childhood socioeconomic position was measured using parental income documented in the GAZEL study in 1989 (low: ≤2592€/month vs. intermediate/high: >2592€/month). Adult socioeconomic position was measured by participants' educational level (≤high school degree vs. >high school degree). Combining family income and educational attainment, we ascertained participants' social trajectory (stable high, upward, downward and stable low). Data were analyzed using multinomial regression analyses controlled for demographic, social, psychological and family characteristics. 

1. Results: Compared with participants with a stable high social trajectory, those with an upward, downward or low social trajectory were more likely to abstain from alcohol (compared with a stable high social trajectory, sex and age-adjusted ORs: OR = 2.22, 95% CI 1.35–3.65 for an upward social trajectory; OR = 3.20, 95% CI 1.78–5.73 for a downward social trajectory; OR = 3.27, 95% CI 1.75–6.12 for a stable low social trajectory). Additionally, participants with a downward social trajectory were disproportionately likely to abuse alcohol (sex- and age-adjusted OR: 1.48, 95% CI 0.89–2.48). In multivariate analyses, social trajectory remained associated with alcohol use. 

1. Conclusion: Lifelong socioeconomic position may shape patterns of alcohol use early in life.

Alterations in affective behavior during the time course of alcohol hangover

Analía 

G. Karadayian, 

María J. Busso, 

Carlos Feleder, 

Rodolfo A. Cutrera

Behavioural Brain Research

Volume 253, 15 September 2013, Pages 128–138

Alcohol hangover is a temporary state described as the unpleasant next-day effects after binge-like drinking. Hangover begins when ethanol is absent in plasma and is characterized by physical and psychological symptoms. Affective behavior is impaired during the acute phase of alcohol intoxication; however, no reports indicate if similar effects are observed during withdrawal. The aim of this work was to study the time-extension and possible fluctuations in affective behavior during a hangover episode. Male Swiss mice were injected i.p. either with saline (control group) or with ethanol (3.8 g/kg BW) (hangover group). Anxiety, fear-related behavior and despair phenotype were evaluated at a basal point (ZT0) and every 2 h up to 20 h after blood alcohol levels were close to zero (hangover onset). Also, anhedonia signs and pain perception disabilities were studied. Mice exhibited an increase in anxiety-like behavior during 4 h and 14 h after hangover onset when evaluated by the elevated-plus maze and open field test respectively (p < 0.05). Fear-related behavior was detected in hangover animals by the increase of freezing and decrease of line crossings and rearing frequency during 16 h after hangover onset (p < 0.001). Depression signs were found in hangover mice during 14 h (p < 0.05). Hangover mice showed a significant decrease in pain perception when tested by tail immersion test at the beginning of hangover (p < 0.05). Our findings demonstrate a time-extension between 14 and 16 h for hangover affective impairments. This study shows the long lasting effects of hangover over the phase of ethanol intoxication.

Keywords

• Alcohol hangover; 
• Anxiety-like behavior; 
• Depression; 
• Anhedonia; 
• Nociception

Alcohol hangover: Type and time-extension of motor function impairments

Analía G. Karadayian, 

Rodolfo A. Cutrera

Behavioural Brain Research

Volume 247, 15 June 2013, Pages 165–173

Alcohol hangover is defined as the unpleasant next-day state following an evening of excessive alcohol consumption. Hangover begins when ethanol is absent in plasma and is characterized by physical and psychological symptoms. During hangover cognitive functions and subjective capacities are affected along with inefficiency, reduced productivity, absenteeism, driving impairments, poor academic achievement and reductions in motor coordination. The aim of this work was to study the type and length of motor and exploratory functions from the beginning to the end of the alcohol hangover. Male Swiss mice were injected i.p. either with saline (control group) or with ethanol (3.8 g/kg BW) (hangover group). Motor performance, walking deficiency, motor strength, locomotion and exploratory activity were evaluated at a basal point (ZT0) and every 2 h up to 20 h after blood alcohol levels were close to zero (hangover onset). Motor performance was 80% decreased at the onset of hangover (p < 0.001). Hangover mice exhibited a reduced motor performance during the next 16 h (p < 0.01). Motor function was recovered 20 h after hangover onset. Hangover mice displayed walking deficiencies from the beginning to 16 h after hangover onset (p < 0.05). Moreover, mice suffering from a hangover, exhibited a significant decrease in neuromuscular strength during 16 h (p < 0.001). Averaged speed and total distance traveled in the open field test and the exploratory activity on T-maze and hole board tests were reduced during 16 h after hangover onset (p < 0.05). Our findings demonstrate a time-extension between 16 to 20 h for hangover motor and exploratory impairments. As a whole, this study shows the long lasting effects of alcohol hangover.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0166432813001782