Click here for
State by State Drug Rehab

Alcohol Media Related Articles

One in 10 Binge-Drinkers Drive Afterward: Study
By: Amy Norton
Source: Reuters Health

September 2, 2009 - More than 10 percent of U.S. adults who binge-drink admits to getting behind the wheel after doing so, a government study finds.

Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that among more than 14,000 Americans who reported binge-drinking, 12 percent said they drove within two hours of their most recent binge.

In more than half of those cases, the driver had been drinking at a bar, club or restaurant.

(click for story)
 

Identifying Alcohol Abuse with Simple Assessment
Single Question can Identify Unhealthy Alcohol Use in Patients
Source: Science Daily
Boston University Study

March 11, 2009 - (Excerpt) - The NIAAA recommends a single-question screen for unhealthy alcohol use. The recommended question asks, "How many times in the past year have you had X or more drinks in a day?" (where X is 5 for men and 4 for women). While similar single-question screens have been validated in various settings, the NIAAA recommended screening test had not been validated in the primary-care setting. BMC researchers attempted to validate this version of the screening question in a sample of primary-care patients.

(click for story)

January 31, 2009 - Domestic violence is on the rise and police say more often than not, alcohol and/or drugs were involved with one or both of the individuals.

 Argentine Township Police Chief Daniel Allen said he has seen an increase in recent months and his department is investigating three incidents reported in January.

 Allen said the police department has specific policies in place for officers to follow when responding to a domestic assault call. To begin with, domestic violence is criminal behavior. For responding Argentine officers, an arrest is the preferred response to domestic violence. Assailants are to be held accountable and victims are to be protected.

(click for story)

December 31, 2008 - The December holidays can be deadly, especially when there’s alcohol involved.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Association released a report stating that drivers age 21 to 24 are the group most involved in alcohol-related fatalities.

“In 2007, more than one-third (35 percent) of 21 to 24-year-olds involved in fatal crashes were alcohol impaired (blood alcohol concentration of .08 grams per deciliter),” according to statistics on NHTSA’s Web site.

This age group is only about 11 percent of all drivers in fatal crashes, but they held 18 percent of alcohol-related crashes.

In Kansas, there were 74 total fatalities in the 21 to 24-year-old age group in 2007. Twenty-one of those were impaired in that age group. This represented 28 percent.
(click for story)

Overcome Alcohol Abuse Starting Today
Real Help is Available at (877) 340-3602

December 25, 2008 - Abuse of drugs and alcohol is on the rise in Washington state, including one of the highest rates of nonmedical use of prescription pain relievers in the nation, according to the state Department of Social and Health Services.

In the agency's 16th annual report on drug and alcohol abuse trends, the good news is that smoking and methamphetamine abuse are on the decline.

Washington state ranks sixth among the states in nonmedical use of pain relievers by people 12 and older, after Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, Utah and West Virginia. The prescription pain relievers being abused are mostly opiates.

Binge drinking and consistent heavy drinking have also gone up over the past two years, with adult heavy drinking rates at their highest level this decade, the report said.
(click for story)

December 19, 2008 - The number of alcohol-related highway accidents involving young women in San Diego County has risen sharply, according to a new report.
The study, conducted by the Automobile Club of Southern California, found that the number of fatalities and injury crashes involving female drivers in their early 20s more than doubled between 1998 and 2007, from 49 incidents annually to 110.
The number of young men involved in similar incidents also rose, but at a slower rate of 40 percent over the 10-year period, according to the Auto Club. Auto Club officials on Friday attributed the bigger spike among young women to several factors, including an increase in binge drinking among females and the marketing of alcohol to women.
(click for story)

December 7, 2008 - Three out of four high school students have had more than a few sips of alcohol by the end of their senior year, and almost three out of five claim they've been drunk at least once.
Those sobering statistics come from a 2005 report by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Numbers released by the Council Bluffs Community School District are somewhat lower, but school officials find them disturbing nonetheless.

According to a district survey from the 2007-08 school year, more than half the high school students, 51.6 percent, have tried alcohol. The same survey showed almost one in five students, or 17.4 percent, drove while under the influence and more than two out of five, 41.3 percent, rode with someone who was driving under the influence.
(click for story)

Overcome Alcohol Abuse Starting Today
Real Help is Available at (877) 340-3602

An Emergency Crusade
Source: BaltimoreSun.com
By: Peter Hermann

November 28, 2008 - Dr. Thomas M. Scalea is tired of calling crashes caused by drivers impaired by alcohol or drugs accidents.

Like cancer or heart trouble, the physician-chief of the Maryland Shock Trauma Center views them as diseases. Easily preventable diseases.

If you drink, don't drive. If you do drugs, don't drive.

"It has a prevention strategy," Scalea says. "They are not accidents. They are preventable and predictable events. The more alcohol you have, the more we can predict you will be involved in one."

Nearly half - 41 percent - of the 651 accident fatalities in Maryland in 2006 were alcohol related, according to the latest available numbers from the Maryland State Police.
(click for story)
 

November 23, 2008 - The struggling economy is certainly changing the way we live, but for many, finding a way to escape the bad news is becoming more important.

According to News 11's Tanieya Lewis, some are drowning away their sorrows.

The economy has changed the way we entertain ourselves. For some that means more nights in, but others are turning to alcohol for relief.
(click for story)
 

November 22, 2008 - An 18-year-old Utah State University freshman died early Friday morning from what appears to be an alcohol overdose.

Michael Starks, 18, a graduate of Judge Memorial High School, taking general studies at USU, reportedly was drinking at a residence near 200 West and 200 North in Logan before he turned up at the Sigma Nu fraternity house east of the USU campus.

Starks lived in Mountain View Towers at USU and was in the process of becoming a member of the Sigma Nu fraternity, according to a press release on the USU Web site.

After friends were unable to wake up Starks early Friday morning, Logan police were notified and he was transported by ambulance to Logan Regional Hospital.

Gary Chambers, USU vice president for student services, said Starks was pronounced dead at the hospital at approximately 3 a.m.

(click for story)

Click here for an online confidential assessment