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Alcohol: Marriage, Sports Games, and Price Planning

Science Daily– We have already talked about what alcoholism can do to you body as well as what it can do to your brain on A3. This article highlights what it could do to your marriage, specifically delaying it and possibly causing early separation. Just one more thing to think about for those thinking of tying the knot any time soon.

BBC News-In an effort to reduce crime in England the government wants to set a minimum price for alcohol so that it could no longer be sold at a price that is untaxable. Home Office projections indicate 7000 crimes could be cut in a year. The increase in cost would also result in a benefit to the nation’s health given projections form Sheffield University, which estimated last year that raising the price of alcohol to a minimum of 50p per unit would mean that after a decade there would be almost 3,000 fewer deaths every year and 41,000 fewer cases of chronic illness. The projection are dependent on the notion that price will affect demand and therefore use, something that has been shown to be less true among dependent individuals.

Med – A new study found that alcohol dependence is a strong predictor of early separation in marriage. In addition to this finding the results showed that if an individuals parents were dependent on alcohol  both men and women were more likely to separate early in marriage. This some very early evidence, but more research is being conducted.

Science Daily– Often times sports games are a great way to have fun. However, about eight percent of fans are legally drunk after leaving sports games according to a recent study published in Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research (ACER). Researchers administered a breath test and found that 60% of the fans had zero BAC, 40% had a positive BAC, and nearly 8% were legally drunk. This problem could be resolved through better training of alcohol servers, and setting a limit to how much alcohol an individual can purchase, about 74% of the time an intoxicated individual was still able to buy alcohol. That is assuming these people are getting into cars and driving or starting fights… Otherwise, I say let them drink and walk it off.

Drugs: Texting & Fighting Teen Drug Use

News Feed– Restricting texting for teenagers may be a good idea as a new study shows that teens who “hyper-text” ( text more than 120 times a day) are more likely to be sexually active, drink alcohol and do illegal drugs compared to teens that text less. I wonder if they’re also sexting more… maybe while drunk or high. I guess future research should examine negative outcomes in this group – addiction, pregnancy, arrest and so on.

Time– The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) has declared Nov. 8–14 National Drug Facts Week, in order to help prevent teen drug problems. The goal of this drug facts week is to present teens with factual information about drugs and drug abuse. Read this article and take NIDA’s Drug IQ Challenge here (warning: the online quiz begins with the loud sound of shattering glass, which may jolt adult nerves). Effective drug prevention requires open and honest communication information about drugs between parents and children.