British consider alcohol price increase

In this week's edition of The Economist, one of the standout articles was about a parliamentary health committee convening to discuss raising the prices on low-end alcohol. According to the article, many of the low-end alcoholic beverages are sold at incredibly low prices, as well as significantly discounted when purchased in bulk. From the article: "Using research from Sheffield University, the committee argued that a floor of 40p for a 10ml unit of alcohol—enough to push the Sainsbury’s cider up to £3.36—would save 1,100 lives per year. A floor of 50p would save 3,000, it said. Medical associations and the police all want to see drink get more expensive too."

As we've touched on before, the British have a long history of binge drinking, especially among the younger adults. British cases of cirrhosis are on the rise, while all over the rest of Western Europe cases of cirrhosis are on the decline. What's interesting to see is the fact that, per-capita, their consumption is the eighth-highest in Europe; however, according to the World Health Organization, a whopping 12% of the British population are non-drinkers.

Now normally, a bill like this would get a lot of negative feedback from the already-struggling pub industry; however, a raise in the low-end liquor industry wouldn't directly affect them as most drinks served in bars aren't THAT low end. So hopefully we'll see a stabilzation in the low-end market, helping slow alcohol consumption in the lower-end markets. Scotland, on the other hand, is working to introduce a "social responsibility" fee for bars and other liquor sales places, presumably to put those funds toward treatment and education programs. I hope that we see an uptick in this area; alcohol sales tax SHOULD go towards rehabilitation services for those in need- after all, their legal drug causes all sorts of damage to individuals and families. Perhaps a price increase will slow consumption of liquor in the UK; at any rate, it's a start, and one can hope that treatment options are made more readily available to those in need.

In other news, TLC announced today that they would be premiering a new series called "Addicted" this March, featuring interventionist Kristina Wandzilak of Full Circle Intervention and author of the book, "The Lost Years." I'm excited for this show- I know that the journey through addiction will be presented well, and can only increase awareness to the help available out there. I'm happy that this seems not only to focus on intervention, but also on the "life stuff" that follows the exit from a treatment center. Once again, the more awareness of resources available, the better- if this show helps one person seek treatment, then I qualify it as a success.



Here's a video of Ms. Wandzilak from ABC:



Here's something funny.

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Cyber Millenials and their drinking habits

A study being published by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, along with the Center for Disease Control, used audience segmentation as the basis. The "cyber millenials," or those tech-savvy young people living in an urban area, tend to be the biggest high risk drinkers. Most were on the West Coast or in the Mid West, and tended to be well-educated as well as ethnically mixed.

What's interesting about this segment is that outside of binge drinking, they are relatively healthy- lower smoking rates, lots of exercise, and eating organic foods- but yet seem not to recognize the danger that binge drinking presents. Also, this segment tends to have significant financial resources which allow for multiple drinks in one sitting.

Now what's mentioned near the end of the article is what truly interests me: that clinicians "tend to be more blasé with younger, healthier patients, and might not even ask them about their level of alcohol consumption or screen them for alcohol problems." That is the problem. I can remember from my college days, going to see the school psychologist to talk about my depression 2 days a week for 3 months- and we talked once about drinking habits. In seeing a therapist after I'd left school and had developed a significant drug and alcohol problem, we talked about drug use and abuse only twice in 6 months. This is horrendous. Without proper education, we can't expect clinicians to learn how to recognize and treat the disease. A marriage and family therapist averages around 10 hours of mandatory study directly related to addiction while gaining their degree. In contrast, the average drug and alcohol counselor (not a master's degree, by the way), will do at least 3,000 hours of practicum directly related to addiction. So it seems that we should probably provide some additional education around addiction and alcoholism to our therapist community, as most people will see them prior to seeing a drug and alcohol counselor.

It falls back again to the stigma around this disease- the fact that 1 out of 10 people here struggle with drugs or alcohol (not to mention all of the families that are directly affected by one's behavior) means we need to get this out of the dark. When affluent, well-educated young people are binge drinking more than any other segment of the population, we need to be prepared for when they go overboard. Parents, educators, and clinicians need to be well-versed in dealing with alcohol and drug abuse for this new generation. The Millenials are going to need all the help they can get.

Here's a British show about binge drinking there:



Here's something funny.

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