In the News

Fallout of College Students’ Binge-Drinking

Student About 44 percent of U.S. college students binge-drink, many of them racking up big bills at their local hospitals, a new study has found.

Released this week, the study, by Marlon P. Mundt and Larissa I. Zakletskaia at the University of Wisconsin, was supported by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. It's to appear in the April issue of the journal Health Affairs.

At universities with at least 40,000 students, total expenses stemming from blackout-related visits to emergency departments run $469,000 to $546,000 a year, the study projects.

Government Unveils Nationwide Anti-Smoking Campaign

cdc smoking image This ad released by the CDC shows Shawn Wright who had a tracheotomy after being diagnosed with head and neck cancer.The federal government has unveiled a nationwide anti-smoking campaign, with a series of ads that feature former smokers who discuss the negative health consequences of smoking.

The ads will appear on television and in newspapers starting March 19, 2012. The cost of the campaign is $54 million this year. The New York Times reports that the tobacco industry generally spends at least that much on promotional efforts in two days.

Army Delays Confidential Alcohol Counseling Program

Soldier Despite high rates of alcohol abuse, the Army has delayed for nearly three years a plan to offer all soldiers access to confidential counseling for drinking problems, a move that leaders in alcohol abuse treatment say is a mistake.

The Army began a pilot program in 2009 for confidential treatment, but it continues debating what to do next because of a high dropout rate. One in four GIs now have a drinking problem, and alcohol has been linked to record numbers of suicides, sexual assaults and domestic abuse cases, Army research shows.

Many refuse to seek counseling for alcohol abuse because military policy requires that their commanders be notified, says Col. John Stasinos, addiction consultant to the Army Surgeon General.

Confidential counseling for alcoholism has for decades been a routine part of civilian employee-assistance programs. Without confidentiality, those who abuse alcohol delay seeking help until the problem becomes more serious, says H. Westley Clark, head of the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment at the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

Alcohol is Factor in Accused G.I.'s Actions

The American staff sergeant suspected of killing 16 Afghan villagers had been drinking alcohol — a violation of military rules in combat zones — and suffering from the stress related to his fourth combat tour and tensions with his wife about the deployments on the night of the massacre, a senior American official said .

"When it all comes out, it will be a combination of stress, alcohol and domestic issues — he just snapped," said the official, who has been briefed on the investigation and who spoke on condition of anonymity because the soldier has not yet been formally charged.

As new details emerged about possible reasons behind the shootings, the American official said the military was preparing to move the sergeant to a prison in the United States as early as Friday, most likely to Fort Leavenworth, Kan., just a day after he was flown to a detention site in Kuwait from Afghanistan.

Study Hospitalizations Increase for Alcohol & Drug Overdoses

The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, part of the National Institutes of Health, found that the number of hospitalizations due to alcohol and drug overdoses has increased dramatically among 18- to 24-year-olds between 1999 and 2008. Over the 10-year study period, the percentage of alcohol overdoses, drug overdoses and a combination of drug and alcohol overdoses increased by 25 percent, 56 percent and 76 percent, respectively.

Appropriately, there has been an increased media focus on the number of prescription drug related overdoses. Much of this attention has been prompted by the high profile deaths of Heath Ledger, Amy Winehouse, Michael Jackson and most recently Whitney Houston. Regrettably, in many of these stories, the media has failed to provide accurate information to the public about the critical role that alcohol plays in the number of overdose hospitalizations and deaths.

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