Powdered alcohol/ palcohol may be banned in Queensland before it even reaches our shores.
Palcohol makes drinking on the go easy, all you need is a sachet of the powder, you just add water. There are major concerns around regulation and safety prompting Victorian authorities to ban the substance with NSW busy drafting legislation to do the same. Queensland may follow suit.
Find out more about the concerns here.
It appears humans aren’t the only ones who like consuming alcohol. Scientists have discovered that chimpanzees also drink alcohol for recreation. Watch the video below to learn more.
Even more reason to ensure Responsible Service of Alcohol laws are enforced has come to light in the revelation that the number of Australian women presenting at hospital emergency rooms due to alcohol related violence is at an all time high.
According to a study by The National Drug Research Institute, women being injured due to alcohol-fuelled violence is on the rise, at an even faster pace than men. The subjects in the study included drinkers and non-drinkers who were affected by alcohol. Read more here.
The ban on powdered alcohol (palchol) which was instituted in Victoria will not be enforced nationally, with each state having to make the decision on whether or not to ban palcohol.
The ban in Victoria will be enforced from 1 July 2015.
Read more here.
We’ve heard that mixing alcohol and energy drinks is bad for you, but does that go for all caffeine drinks? This video explains why you should avoid mixing caffeine drinks with alcohol.
A new study has revealed that the number of young women drinking to dangerous levels is rising.
The number of young women presenting at hospital has risen, a study has shown.
Whereas the number of men who presented in hospital due to alcohol rose by 30 per cent, the number of women rose by 44%.
Find out more here.
A man was killed at a jazz club in the US with just a single punch. Watch this video which highlights why Responsible Service of Alcohol is such an important issue.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYwLQ-nxYXU
Most adults would agree that alcohol can be seriously damaging to young people, to their health, safety and wellbeing. Many parents choose to forbid their children from drinking alcohol at all but there are many that choose to provide alcohol to their kids so that they can “control” the amount they consume, rather than have them just sneaking around drinking with their friends with the possibility of them abusing it even more. Obviously there are those that don’t limit the amount of alcohol they provide for their kids and don’t teach them to be responsible drinkers, which is where the problem comes in.
In fact according to a NSW parliamentary committee, parents or guardians who do not behave responsibly when it comes to giving alcohol to minors should be forced into counselling in the hopes that this will make them more responsible when providing alcohol to minors.
It is not expected to be met with much criticism because most people agree that many adults aren’t cautious enough about providing alcohol to minors, which is breeding a problem.
The clampdown on parents has been pushed by the committee and others who believe that in order to tackle a problem of this magnitude it is vital that parents also be dealt with. Alcohol abuse among young people is growing, this is obvious from statistics and the number of minors being checked into rehabilitation centres. Also many adult users began their unhealthy relationship with alcohol at a young age.
At the moment, parents and guardians are legally permitted to supply alcohol to their children as well as children placed in their care as long as their parents give consent.
Read what this excerpt from an article on TheHerald.com.au had to say:
The parliamentary committee wants to add the mild proviso that any such supply be made “in a manner that is consistent with responsible supervision”. Relevant factors would be the child’s age, whether the adult or child was drunk, whether the child was drinking alcohol with food, the amount and type of alcohol and the time over which it was supplied.
Fair enough, but debate on such a minor legal tweak shouldn’t be allowed to overshadow much bigger and more important questions in the overall alcohol debate.
Newcastle Community Drug Action Team chair Tony Brown has correctly noted, for example, the large volume of unregulated online liquor promotions that are directed at teenagers.
Read more: http://www.theherald.com.au/story/1775920/editorial-children-drinking-alcohol/?cs=303
According to the team the saturation of the Aussie alcohol market has led the alcohol industry seeking other opportunities for sales growth, to look to the youth market. Alcohol companies understand that market growth is limited and requires them to “groom” the younger generation to become drinkers, it is the only untapped or underdeveloped market at the moment.
The post goes on to explain:
If policymakers are genuinely concerned about this possibility then they should by all means consider enforcing greater accountability for parents and guardians. But tackling liquor advertising and promotion and considering other factors such as price and availability would bring a bigger dividend for the effort involved.
Read more: http://www.theherald.com.au/story/1775920/editorial-children-drinking-alcohol/?cs=303
An article on News.com.au recently discussed what it’s like to live with an alcoholic, something we all hope to never have to experience, none the less it is still an informative post and a deterrent for binge drinking, which is the leading cause of alcoholism.
The article tells the story of Anne Morshead who actually met her partner in a pub, which she herself admits is ironic considering that it was alcohol that brought them together, yet it was alcohol that eventually threatened to destroy their relationship.
Anne was quoted by News.com.au as saying that anyone has the potential to become an alcohol addict if they drink enough over a long enough period of time, which is something her partner did. Her partner came from a miserable background, with an alcoholic father and he was visually impaired which added to his angst. Angst which spurred on drinking, something many alcoholics are familiar with, popularly termed “drinking away or drowning their sorrows”.
According to Anne our society paints alcohol as an “easy way out” of life’s sorrows. Anne has written a book detailing her experience as the partner of an alcoholic, entitled “Blind Drunk”. This is what she had to say to News.com.au about the book and her experiences:
Anne’s partner suffers from retinitis pigmentosa, which causes tunnel vision and night blindness, among other symptoms. The condition is degenerative and currently incurable.
His impairment inspired the title of Anne’s recently released book, Blind Drunk, in which she describes the struggle of living with an alcoholic and recounts her partner’s counterintuitive path to sobriety.
“Drinking alcohol is such a major part of our social culture. It’s legal, it’s fun and it makes us feel good,” Anne said. “But we tend to conveniently forget that it is a drug.”
As a professional relationship counsellor, Anne believed she could help her partner overcome his alcoholism, but her interference only made the situation worse. For half a decade Anne was “addicted to the addict,” attempting to control his drinking to the point where her own life crumbled.
“I became obsessed with monitoring his drinking, where he was and what he was doing in the same way he was obsessed with the drug,” Anne said.
“Over five years, I became someone I didn’t recognise, as if my spirit was locked away and shrivelled.”
Anne goes on to explain how as the partner of an alcoholic, you too can shun the outside work. She began to reject invitations to social events and eventually these invitations dried up. Anne’s story is interesting because it is one of the first which focuses not on the alcoholic but rather on those close to them and how their lives are negatively affected. Alcoholics usually get all the attention but partners and family also suffer. She even explains the difficulty of having to deal with the stigma surrounding having a problem drinker or anyone with an addiction in the family.
Anne also explains how partners of drunks can become obsessed with the addiction and with curing their partners. Read more about Anne’s story http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health-fitness/how-to-live-with-an-alcoholic-partner-according-to-blind-drunk-author-anne-morshead/story-fneuzlbd-1226694657714#ixzz2bZbKB8rP