Alcohol Help

The European Union is the heaviest alcohol drinking region in the world. Therefore, in Europe we suffer from the highest alcohol related problems. It is estimated that 58 million adults in the EU drink at risky levels, and 23 million are alcohol addicted.

Alcohol constitutes the primary risk factor for accidents, injuries and violence. Approximately half of the deaths attributable to alcohol are from injuries.

This alcohol issue is being addressed at the 3rd European injury prevention conference, organised by EuroSafe in cooperation with the Hungarian Presidency of the European Council. Today stakeholders in the prevention of accidents and injuries from Europe and other continents meet in Budapest to exchange, debate and discuss the latest results in injury research, policies and practices.

As the “Recommendations of the European Council on the prevention of injury and the promotion of safety” from 2007 highlight; every year, about 235 000 citizens of the Community die as a result of an accident or violence. In children, adolescents and young adults accidents and injuries are the leading cause of death, with alcohol playing a major role.

Over one fifth of the European population aged 15 years and older report heavy episodic drinking; 16% of cases of child abuse involve alcohol; 350 000 youngsters age 15 to 16 report fights involving alcohol. Alcohol abuse can be attributable to 4 out of 10 homicides in the EU and 1 in every 6 suicides involves alcohol. The list can be extended and thus injuries represent a huge financial burden on health and welfare systems, causing about 20% of sick leave and constituting a major factor for reduced productivity.

Andrea Lavesson, President of Active – sobriety, friendship and peace points out that “safety is a real welfare issue and injury prevention thus is a question with decisive influence on young European’s quality of life. That’s why we need and demand leadership to take the 2007 European Council Recommendations by their wording: better alcohol control policies reduce alcohol harm and in doing so improve injury prevention and make Europe safer and financially sustainable.”

Mariann Skar, European Alcohol Policy Alliance Secretary General, emphasized: ‘in the times of economic hardship we cannot afford to waste money in public health budgets on admissions that could be easily avoided. This can be achieved by better control and enforcement of drink driving regulations (BAC levels) and age restrictions as well as neither promoting nor selling alcohol at mass sports and music events which target audience is primarily young people.’

European Alcohol Policy Alliance

The association between poor hand hygiene of health care workers and nosocomial infection is well established. The National Hand Hygiene Initiative has been established to improve hand hygiene among health care workers, and the use of ethanol- or isopropanol-based hand sanitisers has been widely adopted in the hospital setting. To encourage their use by health care workers, many hospitals have undertaken extensive education programs and made hand sanitisers with high alcohol content readily available at all points of patient care. An unanticipated but potentially adverse outcome of this campaign is the intentional consumption of hand sanitisers by patients.

We report the case of a 45-year-old man, with a history of polysubstance misuse, who was admitted to our institution with epigastric pain in the setting of acute-on-chronic alcohol intake. No evidence of pancreatic or biliary disease was found and the diagnosis of probable alcohol-related gastritis was made. On Day 3 of admission, the patient became increasingly drowsy. Clinical examination showed that he was rousable, and had a Glasgow Coma Scale score of 13. There were no other significant findings. Some hours later, six near-empty 375 mL bottles of Aqium Gel (Ego Pharmaceuticals, Melbourne, Vic), an antibacterial hand sanitiser that has an ethanol content of 66%, were found by the patient’s bedside. Excipients in this gel include thickener, dexpanthenol, dl-alpha-tocopheryl acetate, fragrance, pH neutraliser and water.3 On direct questioning, the patient admitted to intentionally consuming the contents of the hand sanitiser bottles. This was supported by a breath test performed about 40 minutes after the bottles were found, which showed a blood alcohol concentration of 0.271%. Following advice from the Poisons Information Line, supportive therapy was instigated and the patient made an uneventful recovery.

Intentional consumption of ethanol- and isopropanol-based hand sanitisers by hospitalised patients has been described in overseas settings and serious adverse outcomes (including the need for intubation) have occurred.4-6 In one emergency department, all removable bottles of alcohol-based hand sanitiser in patient care areas were replaced with non-removable, self-contained dispensers.6 Experience at our institution over the past 6 months suggests that consumption of alcohol-based hand sanitisers by inpatients may be an increasing problem in Australian settings — we are aware of a further three patients who have consumed these products while at our institution.

An increased awareness of this practice is required among health care workers in Australia, as it has the potential to create diagnostic dilemmas and lead to serious outcomes, and preventive measures need to be identified and implemented.

The Medical Journal of Australia
Lachlan M Batty, Intern
Anna J Brischetto, Medical Registrar
Ajay C Kevat, Intern
Michael J Oldmeadow, Director of Physician Training
The Alfred, Melbourne, VIC.

A survey has revealed that “children who see their parents drunk are twice as likely to regularly get drunk themselves,” reported BBC News. Several newspapers also covered this news story.

The reports are of a survey conducted by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, a charity that funds a nationwide research and development programme aimed at better understanding the UK’s social problems and how these can be overcome. As one of its research projects, the foundation conducted this study, published today, which explored the relationship that young people in the UK have with alcohol, and the factors that influence their drinking habits.

The report, called “Young people, alcohol and influences”, presents the findings of a survey of 5,700 teenagers aged 13–14 years old (year 9) and 15–16 (year 11) in schools in England. The study gathered information on the students’ drinking patterns and looked into the wide range of factors that can influence them, such as family, media and the area in which they live. The researcher wanted to get a better understanding of the relative importance of these factors when considering how best to tackle drinking in young people.

What did the report find?

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation conducted the report with two main aims:

to examine the circumstances surrounding a young person’s first drink, and to look at their current drinking patterns, including the amount consumed and experiences of drunkenness
to improve understanding of what really influences a young person’s drinking pattern by identifying the factors that most strongly influence their behaviour

The key findings of the report were:

70% of year 9 students and 89% of year 11 students had had an alcoholic drink, but regular drinking was more common among year 11 students than those in year 9.
The most common age for having a first alcoholic drink was 12–13 years old, and this usually took place in the presence of an adult and when celebrating a special occasion.
Drinking more frequently was most likely:
− if the teen received less supervision from a parent or other close adult
− if they spent more than two evenings a week with friends, especially if these friends drank
− if they were exposed to a close family member, especially a parent, whom they saw drinking or getting drunk
− if they thought positively about drinking and its effects
− if alcohol was easily accessible
The report also found that while friends clearly play an important influential role, family has a direct effect on teens’ behavior. Parents or guardians are often involved in a child’s first experience of alcohol, exposing them to drunkenness, and are responsible for the amount of supervision a teenager is given (such as knowing where they are on evenings when they are away from home).

How much are young people drinking?

As indicated above, the majority of teens in years 9 and 11 had had at least one alcoholic drink. In the lower school year, girls were more likely to have had a drink than boys, though the gap closed by the later school year.

Of year 9 students who reported ever drinking alcohol:

47% drank at least once a month
20% drank every week
27% had had a drink in the week before the survey
47% had one or two drinks the last time they drank

Of year 11 students who drank alcohol:

72% drank at least once a month
39% drank every week
49% had had a drink in the week before the survey
25% had six or more drinks the last time they drank

In year 9, 39% of those who had drank alcohol in the past week had consumed seven units or more, while in year 11 the same proportion drank 14 units or more. Just over half (54%) of the year 9 teens who had ever had an alcoholic drink reported that they had also been drunk on one or more occasions. Of year 11 drinkers, 79% had ever been drunk, with 52% reporting they had been drunk more than once. Of those who reported ever being drunk, 47% of year 9 and 66% of year 11 students said that they drink with their friends at least once a month with the primary aim of getting drunk.

What are they drinking?

The report found that year 9 students were most likely to drink alcopops (26% of drinks consumed) or beer or lager (29%), followed by spirits or liqueurs (22%), cider (13%) and wine or similar drinks (10%).

Year 11 students were most likely to drink beer or lager (35%), spirits or liqueurs (25%), followed by alcopops (17%), cider (12%) and wine (11%).

In both year groups, the survey found that those who drank beer and lager drank larger amounts than teens who drank other types of alcoholic drink.

What influences teens to drink?

Though family drinking habits and witnessing drunkenness among family members had a strong influence on drinking, the strongest influence on drinking was having friends who drink.

About 75% reported being with an adult when they drank for the first time. However, while both
year groups were most likely to have been drinking at home the last time they drank, the proportion was smaller in the older group: 43% of year 9 students were with parents or siblings when they last drank, compared to 34% of year 11 students, who were more likely to have had their last drink with friends (23% compared to 13% in year 9). The less parental or adult supervision that a teen had (for example, parents not knowing where they were on a Saturday night), the more likely they were to have a drink.

For those teens who had not had a drink, lack of interest in alcohol was the main factor identified. A young person’s religion, ethnicity and family values were also likely to predict whether the teen had had a drink.

The main influences of “current” drinking (drinking in the past week) were:

age: the younger a person was when they had their first drink, the more likely they were to have been drinking in the past week
expecting positive outcomes from drinking
most (rather than some or a few) of a young person’s friends also drinking
frequency of drinking in the family: a young person was more likely to be a current drinker if at least one member of their family drank each week
the circumstances of their first drink: those introduced to alcohol at a family celebration were less likely to be current drinkers, which the report says indicates some degree of family monitoring or supervision
easy access to alcohol

Similar factors influence current excessive drinking, with friends’ levels of drinking having the strongest influence. The risk of excessive drinking increases the more time the person spends with their friends. It is also affected by the age of the friends, with older friends or siblings influencing how easily teenagers could access alcohol. Factors affecting teens’ drunkenness are similar, though being extremely young when they had their first drink (under 6 years old) and witnessing family drunkenness had a very strong influence.

The report says that a young person has about double the odds of getting drunk multiple times if they have ever witnessed their parents drunk, compared with never seeing this (odds ratio 1.88, no confidence interval given).

What does the report conclude?

This report concludes that, though drinking among young people is not inevitable, a large proportion of teenagers do drink alcohol. The researchers consider that there is little benefit from policies aiming to prevent young people from trying alcohol, but that they should instead focus on preventing immediate and longer-term effects of drinking alcohol.

The report highlights the strongest influences on current, excessive and risky drinking, and says that the new government alcohol strategy offers the opportunity to set out a strong central policy and give a clear message to parents, local policy-makers and frontline services. The authors suggest that the best way of improving drinking behaviour could be to support and educate parents, giving them positive messages about how they can influence their child’s behaviour. They also stress the importance of the parent’s own drinking and how this affects their child’s perceptions of alcohol. Schools can also play an important role in challenging incorrect perceptions about the frequency and scale of heavy drinking among young people, providing information and getting targeted messages to parents.

Children who watch parents drink ‘are twice as likely to binge on alcohol’. The Guardian, June 17 2011

Teenage drinking linked to parents’ behaviour. BBC News, June 17 2011

How the evening G and T is harming the kids: Children who see parents drink ‘more likely to binge’. Daily Mail, June 17 2011

Survey lifts lid on shock levels on teen binge drinking. Daily Mirror, June 17 2011

Young people, alcohol and influences. The Joseph Rowntree foundation 2011

NHS Choices

We are able to say with confidence that there are potentially adverse consequences for children and young people who misuse alcohol. The evidence suggests that:

• adolescents who misuse alcohol are more likely to suffer from side effects including appetite changes, weight loss, eczema, headaches and sleep disturbance

• the most common impacts of alcohol intoxication are vomiting and coma

• young people are not immune to the chronic diseases and conditions associated with excess alcohol consumption in adults, and deaths from liver disease are now occurring at younger ages

• adolescents and young people who drink and drive, or allow themselves to be carried by a drink driver, are more likely to be involved in a car accident

• adolescents and young people who drink alcohol are more likely to sustain an injury, often as a result of an assault

• alcohol abuse in adolescence, during a developmentally sensitive period, poses a particular danger to the emerging brain faculties of executive functioning and long term memory

• adolescents are likely to be more vulnerable than adults to both subtle brain damage and long lasting cognitive deficits following alcohol exposure

• alcohol may increase feelings of depression

• stress / anxiety based drinking is associated with long-term and more severe negative outcomes

• there is a relationship between adolescent alcohol use and mental health problems, so it is important that all young people with alcohol problems should have a mental health assessment

• alcohol consumption during an evening may affect a child’s performance at school on the following day, since it takes time to metabolize alcohol and this process varies depending on the dose of alcohol that was consumed and differing metabolic capacity

• the evidence shows that there are associations between alcohol consumption and subsequent behaviour with peers and friends. Indeed, excessive alcohol use can be detrimental to a young person being able to maintain friendships, particularly if the consumption levels are higher than among the peer group generally.

Moreover, there is evidence that

• young people of college age who use alcohol are more likely than their abstaining peers to use cannabis

• alcohol consumption can have a detrimental effect on young people’s short term educational performance

• students are more likely to miss classes because of drinking

• alcohol consumption by young people, particularly students, is more likely to make them vulnerable to being the victims of crime

• alcohol may make some young people more likely to display aggressive behaviour, although it is likely that other factors such as their personality and family life will play a role

In relation to sexual health and behaviour, the evidence confirms that alcohol consumption is associated with:

• not using a condom during a young person’s first sexual encounter

• an increased likelihood of having sex and at a younger age

• unprotected sex

• teenage pregnancy

• the likelihood of contracting sexually transmitted diseases

Department for Children, Schools and Families

A Fuller Life reviewed the issue of Alcohol Related Brain Damage.

In 2006 the Scottish Association for Mental Health produced Looking Forward: Recovering from Alcohol Related Brain Damage, a practical guide to working with people with Alcohol Related Brain Damage.Recent Scottish studies have shown this group to represent a major proportion of the homeless and hostel population.

A Fuller Life outlined the complexity of brain damage and cognitive impairment related to alcohol. There are often multiple factors contributing to impairment such as head injury, vascular disease and degenerative neurological disease processes as well as the long term neurotoxic effect of alcohol and the specific vitamin deficiency, often associated with heavy drinking, which leads to Korsakoff’s syndrome. The term “Alcohol Related Brain Damage” covers a wide range of circumstances. For instance some contributors have suggested that Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder should be regarded as a form of Alcohol Related Brain Damage. In real world practice those affected often have a number of causes for brain damage and cognitive impairment interacting and the consequences of the damage can also be highly variable in terms of behaviour and cognitive deficit. We thus recommend a needs based rather than cause based approach to the care of those classed as having Alcohol Related Brain Damage.

Prevention

Effective action to reduce rates of alcohol dependence and effective interventions to help behaviour change in alcohol dependent individuals will reduce rates of Alcohol Related Brain Damage. Programmes of vitamin supplementation for people at high risk of Alcohol Related Brain Damage such as those with severe alcohol dependence, poor nutrition, and the socially isolated should be part of substance misuse service provision. (Smith and Hillman 1999, McIntosh and Chick 2004).

It is now established that recovery of memory and other cognitive function in Alcohol Related Brain Damage occurs more frequently than was previously thought (ref Looking Forward). Recovery rates are improved by early identification and by extended contact with services including re-assessment of cognitive function at regular intervals.

The coming (2008) guidance from NHS Quality Improvement Scotland on Alcohol in the A & E setting will further inform practice, identification and options.

Service commissioners should ensure awareness among services in their area of the risks of Alcohol Related Brain Damage and that services dealing with high risk groups include Alcohol Related Brain Damage prevention in their range of service responses. The separate needs of those with ABI should be considered.

Assessment, identification and relapse prevention

Assessment for any form of brain damage is complex and it there is no single simple test. The Group recommends the checklist developed by SAMH and their partners ARBIAS as a helpful aid for frontline workers in identifying possible indicators. The full assessment and diagnosis of cognitive impairment involves a stepped approach involving generic mental health assessment skills, specialist psychology and psychiatry, highly specialised neuropsychology and neuropsychiatry and imaging approaches such as MRI. Access to specialist practitioners and facilities should be widely available.

There are brief assessments of cognitive function such as the Mini Mental State Assessment ( MMSE) and Adenbrooke’s Cognitive Assessment ( ACE) which can be of value in Alcohol Related Brain Damage assessment. However these are not diagnostic tools for Alcohol Related Brain Damage.

Should the SAMH/ ARBIAS checklist and brief assessment tools indicate more fuller assessment is required, a number of standardised assessments have been identified by the group which can be used by specialist clinical psychologists and neuropsychologists.

These assessments should only be carried out following a period of 3-6 weeks abstinence (Ryan and Butters 1986). This ensures the resolution of the effects of intoxication and withdrawal leaving a more stable neuropsychological status which will allow for accurate assessment and facilitate the identification of care and treatment needs.

WAIS111 – to assess overall profile (eliminate other problems)

WTAR – to identify previous predicted level of functioning for comparative purposes

Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test – a list learning test which provides useful information re individual’s capacity to learn. Useful for care planning.

The Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System Subtests – can be used independently to assess executive functioning.

Wechsler Memory Scale to assess different aspects of memory.

Alcohol care and treatment services have a key role in detoxification and relapse prevention in those with suspected Alcohol Related Brain Damage in order to allow meaningful assessment of cognitive function to take place. For many with mild Alcohol Related Brain Damage, the most important element of care will be to achieve prevention of relapse back into alcohol use and in these instances alcohol agencies should be the main providers of care.

Care Planning, Treatment and Rehabilitation for more severe Alcohol Related Brain Damage and multi-factorial Cognitive Impairment

The complexity of the contribution of alcohol to brain damage and cognitive impairment, the variability of the impact on individuals and their carers and the regular co-occurrence of a range of causal factors such as head injury, vascular disease and progressive degenerative disease (such as Alzheimer’s Disease) alongside high levels of alcohol consumption mean that there is no single approach to the provision of care for those who are diagnosed with Alcohol Related Brain Damage.

One of the guiding principles of our approach is that care should be based on need, not on age or causation.

The issues in providing care and treatment for those diagnosed with moderate to severe Alcohol Related Brain Damage described in A Fuller Life have much in common with those faced by people with Huntingdon’s Disease, Acquired Brain Injury and Early Onset Dementia (see SEHD summary 2003 of the Scottish Needs Assessment Programme review). The care needs will vary depending on whether the problem is likely to be static or progressive and this will modify the goals of rehabilitation.

The limited capacity of services for younger people with cognitive impairment was commented on by several of the respondents in the consultation process for this report. There appears to be less difficulty in obtaining services for those over 65.

The remit of this report was to cover services in the mental health field, but there are many similarities in issues faced by rehabilitation medicine and physical disability services for a client group with many shared characteristics and contributors suggested exploration of a model of a needs based neuro rehabilitation approach which would build on the evidence base examples of good practice in the statutory and voluntary sector.

The Scottish Government

Without radical action rise in alcohol-related hospital admissions will continue says leading alcohol charity

The latest figures produced by the NHS show that alcohol and the harm it does continues to be one of the biggest problems facing the country. With alcohol-related hospital admissions topping one million for the first time, more than double the admissions in 2002/3, the £2.7bn annual cost of alcohol misuse will also rise.

Some of the increase can be put down to more screening in health services and better referral of alcohol-related problems but overall it points to the fact that England has developed a damaging relationship with alcohol. With alcohol a factor in more than 60 illnesses including breast and throat cancer government must take more radical action.

Don Shenker, Chief Executive of Alcohol Concern said:

“These figures are deeply worrying but not at all surprising. The government’s ongoing failure to tackle the root causes of alcohol misuse means we will see hospital admissions continue to rise in the future.

“Whilst the Department of Health invites the drinks industry to formulate alcohol policy it cuts its funding to organisations like Alcohol Concern. Local alcohol services are at the forefront of tackling misuse but they are being hit by a double whammy of NHS reform and reductions in budgets. In the meantime we have fig leaf proposals such as the ban on selling alcohol below the cost of alcohol duty and VAT, and a responsibility deal with drinks producers and retailers not worth the paper it is written on – all the evidence shows these policies will have no impact.

“Alcohol is one of the biggest public health problems facing the country yet sadly this government is showing no commitment to deal with the problem. Without minimum unit pricing, a radical overhaul of the licensing act and investment in alcohol treatment our research shows that by 2015 alcohol-related hospital admissions will rise to 1.5 million and the annual health cost increase to £3.7bn.”

Alcohol Concern

Thames Valley Police kicks off the summer alcohol drink drive crackdown on Monday 6 June.

The campaign is part of a national crackdown by the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) and the Department for Transport (DfT), aimed at reducing the number of people killed and injured on our roads by people who drink alcohol and drive.

According to national research and analysis, young men age 16-20 ‘opt-out’ of the current alcohol drink drive message because for them it means ‘drunk’ – they believe that having one to two pints is perfectly acceptable.

In addition, many people are not aware of the continuing effects of alcohol the morning after. In many cases, alcohol is still present in the body and will be identified during the breath test. The overall aim of the campaign is to convince drivers that a conviction for drink/drug driving has the potential to ruin their life.

Thames Valley Police and ACPO hope that understanding the consequences of their alcohol offending will deter people from being so irresponsible. A night in police cells sobering up with the possibility of being charged and going straight to court, followed by a lengthy ban, are the reality.

Thames Valley Police will conduct random drink/speed and seatbelt checks at all times of the day and night. Drivers will be asked to provide a specimen of breath in accordance with the Road Traffic Act 1988. Where there is no suspicion of alcohol, no moving traffic offences or involvement in a road collision, drivers will be offered the opportunity to participate in the campaign and provide a sample on a voluntary basis. We will explain the reasons for these checks to drivers and ask for the motoring public’s support.

During last year’s summer campaign, 2,306 drivers were breathalysed and 232 drivers either provided positive tests or refused to give a specimen.

Officers will also record additional information about those stopped, relating to what age bracket they fall into. This data will be provided to the Department for Transport (DfT), who will analyse it to understand the level of alcohol drink-driving nationally and the correlation between age and drink-driving behaviour.

Chief Inspector Gill Wootton from Milton Keynes Road Policing base said: “Drink driving is now much more socially unacceptable, but there are still some individuals who continue to ignore the warnings. It is a very serious offence and people need to understand the gravity of their actions if they drink and drive. We are particularly focussing on the effect of driving the day after ‘a night out’.

“For those who have been out to enjoy a summer evening with friends, they must also think about whether the alcohol is clear from their system the day after. If they are not sure, then it is not worth taking the chance.”

Do you know someone who drinks alcohol or takes drugs and drives? Call police on 0845 8 505 505 or, if it’s an emergency, dial 999. If you don’t want to speak to police or give your name, call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

All drivers who provide a positive alcohol breath test, refuse to provide or fail to provide face losing their licence for at least 12 months. They could go to prison for six months or pay a fine of up to £5,000.

Thames Valley Police

You can find a whole lot of alcoholism facts which are known to almost all of us. You’ll find furthermore a number of books as well as other sorts of publications that have provided helpful information to people who are having doubts regarding certain things related to the abuse of alcohol. However prior to going into the facts, it is advisable to learn what precisely alcohol addiction is.

The condition can be defined as a malady, which has four significant characteristics:

# There is helplessness on the part of the person to be able to control his alcohol drinking practice

# There is usually a solid as well as irrepressible need to take alcoholic beverages

# There is a need to take large quantities of an alcoholic drink

# There are usually indicators of stress, shakiness and also nausea when the habit is stopped immediately after a specific interval of quite heavy drinking.

The Threat of Abusive alcohol drinking

Although the make use of of alcoholic beverages moderately is undoubtedly an enjoyable experience in most parties as well as social activities, flipping it into a habit will make the substance extremely harmful for your health. Alcoholism facts state numerous complications related to its abuse, which could every now and then even lead to death.

Too much alcohol furthermore raises the chance of having specific cancers like in the larynx, liver, esophagus, as well as throat. Some other really serious diseases include human brain damage, liver cirrhosis as well as immune system issues. Women that are pregnant that drink heavily at the same time risk harming the fetus because of that.

Curing the alcohol Addiction

Among the alcoholism facts you’ll be able to find a number of people are able to recover from the habit without requiring the support of anyone. However, nearly all alcohol junkies need assist, backing and also support to take them off the habit. However, it can be astonishing to know that various people do not seem to have any problem with alcohol while plenty of suffer so much.

Alcoholism Facts

People who are more sensitive to the rewarding effects of alcohol may be at increased risk for greater consumption of alcohol and for alcoholism, researchers report.

It’s known that people with a family history of alcoholism are more likely than other people to become alcoholics. This study looked at people with a family history of type I alcoholism, but no alcohol problems themselves.

Type I alcoholism is less severe but more prevalent than type II alcoholism, which has a strong genetic risk. Type I alcoholism is characterized by a relatively late onset of alcohol dependence in socially well-adjusted people, low prevalence of family alcoholism and a milder course, according to the authors of the study that appears online and in the August print issue of the journal Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research.

They gave the equivalent of three alcoholic drinks or a placebo to 51 healthy men and women who had either a positive family history of alcoholism (FHP) or no family history of alcoholism (FHN).

“Participants with a family member with Type I alcoholism reported more stimulant-like effects after the alcohol, compared to the FHN participants,” Harriet de Wit, a professor in the psychiatry and behavioral neuroscience department at the University of Chicago, said in a journal news release. “This suggests that even children of Type I alcoholics may inherit some characteristic that changes how they feel after alcohol which may, in turn, affect their risk for alcohol abuse. With alcohol and many other drugs, stimulant-like subjective effects are often associated with high risk for abuse.”

“These results tell us that some of us are more sensitive to the rewarding properties of alcohol, which in turn might lead to increased consumption,” study first author Anna H.V. Soderpalm Gordh, an assistant professor at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, said in the news release.

“So, be aware of your reaction,” she advised. “If you notice that you might react stronger, happier or more rewarded than your friends when you drink, try to slow down or not drink any more than the rest do. Try to drink the recommended units per week — seven to eight for women, 13 to 14 for men — as any more than that is classified as risky consumption.”

Health Day

The Commonwealth of Virginia has very strict laws and severe punishment for underage possession and consumption of any alcohol.

As the Centers for Disease Control describe it, “Alcohol use by persons under age 21 years is a major public health problem.” While illegal for those under 21, the statistics indicate substantial use by many minors.

- 42% drank some amount of alcohol.

- 24% binge drank.

- 10% drove after drinking alcohol.

- 28% rode with a driver who had been drinking alcohol.

Virginia Laws Related to Underage Drinking

The Commonwealth of Virginia has very strict laws and severe punishment for underage possession and consumption of any alcohol.

- It is illegal for anyone under 21 to possess, purchase, or consume any alcoholic beverage.

- Virginia’s Zero Tolerance (Va. Code 18.2-266.1) law makes driving under the influence of any amount of alcohol a serious criminal offense for drivers under age 21. . Under Virginia law, a prosecutor only needs to prove that the underage defendant consumed enough alcohol to reach a 0.02 BAC, which in only 1/4 of the BAC for Virginia’s “legal limit” of 0.08. In other words, the underage defendant may not feel or look intoxicated, but can still be convicted upon proof of this low BAC of 0.02.

- No one may use an altered or fake ID such as driver’s license, birth certificate or student identification card to establish a false identity or false age to purchase an alcoholic beverage.

- Violators of the Underage Possession law (Va. Code 4.1-305) are guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor and, upon conviction, face (1) a mandatory minimum fine of $500.00 up to a maximum fine of $2,500 and/or 50 hours of community service, (2) and/or a year in jail, and (3) and can lose their driver’s license for 6 months up to a year.

Legal Representation for Underage Consumption Charges

While there is a lot of underage drinking that goes on, if you or one of your children has been charged with underage possession or consumption, you need to have experienced legal counsel.

The punishments for these charges can be problematic for any minor. Conviction on these charges has immediate and far-reaching consequences. With the fines and loss of driving privileges, the ability to afford school or maintain a job, can be threatened.

A conviction could affect your ability to obtain financial aid or get in to the school you want. Moreover, under Va. law convictions cannot be expunged (removed) from your record if convicted as an 18-year or older defendant.

“Even if the defendant completes a court’s first-offender program to have the charge dismissed, there will remain a record of the arrest that cannot be later expunged,” cautioned Matthew Kensky of MacDowell & Associates of Fairfax, VA.

“Virginia’s expungement laws are very limited- one must win the case the right way in order to maintain eligibility for a later expungement. It is always advisable to talk with a defense lawyer before going to court and committing to course of action.”

A Momentary Lapse of Judgment

Young people make mistakes. They lack the experience of years and can frequently be carried along by peer pressure and be caught up in the moment. Do not allow a lapse of good sense to become a scarlet letter that haunts you in the future.

Often, due to the prevalence of binge drinking at parties, the police may round up every one, and let the prosecutors “sort it out” later. Because it is illegal for a minor to “possess” alcohol, just being present at such an event could make one subject to arrest.

An attorney experienced with handling underage consumption, as well as driving while under the influence by underage defendant cases can advise you of the possible legal consequences of your charge and how to ensure the negative consequences are minimized.

Speaking with an attorney as soon as you have been charged is important. The attorney can work to ensure your rights are protected and you do not say anything that could inadvertently hurt your defense.

MacDowell & Associates PC