An archive of recent news articles on the topic of alcohol and drugs.
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Call for tobacco to be dealt with the same way as meth
9th March 2010
The prospect of a black market springing up to fill the void of legal tobacco sales if the product is banned has been dismissed at a parliamentary inquiry. Many people and organisations have asked the Maori affairs select committee's inquiry into tobacco to support an eventual prohibition on tobacco.
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Lower adult blood alcohol limits a 'no-brainer'
4th March 2010
The Government's failure to immediately commit to lowering blood alcohol limits for adult drivers is "just not good enough", say advocacy organisations. Transport Minister Steven Joyce today released the new Transport Ministry 10-year road safety strategy Safer Journeys.
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Alac welcomes zero drink-drive level for under 20s
4th March 2010
The Alcohol Advisory Council (Alac) has welcomed the Government's commitment to a zero alcohol level for drivers under 20. Council chief executive Gerard Vaughan said Alac had been pushing for some time for a zero limit for young drivers, who are currently have a 30mg blood alcohol limit. He said the council would also like to see the current limit of 80mg per 100ml of blood for adult drivers reduced to 50mg.
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Help may not be a patch on willpower when giving up smoking
3rd March 2010
Like a caring friend they are always there for the would-be former smoker: patches, gums, inhalers, lozenges and under-the-tongue tabs to prop up the fragile willpower when it starts to fall apart. But what if nicotine replacement therapy was really a perfidious ally, capable of understanding and support, but also apt to undermine?
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Former binge-drinker's year without booze
3rd March 2010
CHRIS RAINE'S friends thought he was mad when he proposed a year without alcohol. Social suicide, they cried. And Mr Raine understood their fears. For a man whose weekends were spent with mates in a blur of binge-drinking, self-imposed sobriety was a daunting challenge. But his year off the booze boosted his confidence and provided a unique insight into why young Australians drink themselves into oblivion.
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Cheap killer showing up at NZ parties
2nd March 2010
A new party drug linked to deaths in Europe has made its way to New Zealand. Customs Service staff have made 15 interceptions of mephedrone, totalling 816g, since November. The drug can bought legally over the internet in Britain for as little as £4 ($8.70) a gram because of its use in plant food but is illegal here.
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UN watchdog sounds alert on date-rape drugs
2nd March 2010
Governments around the world must step up their efforts to limit access to "date-rape drugs", sedatives that are secretly added to a person's drink to reduce his or her ability to resist sexual assault and remember it later, a United Nations watchdog says.
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Smokers have lower IQs, says study
25th February 2010
Cigarette smokers have lower IQs than non-smokers and the more a person smokes, the lower his IQ, according to a new international study. The study of more than 20,000 Israeli military recruits found young men who smoked a pack of cigarettes a day or more had IQ scores that were 7.5 points lower than non-smokers.
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Tradie awake for '21 days' after pinching pills
25th February 2010
A tradesman stole a haul of seized drugs during a job at a police station and consumed so much he couldn't sleep for three weeks, a court has been told. Tony Jackson, 37, was cutting a ventilation hole in the wall of a police exhibits room at Maroochydore police station in July 2008 when he decided to steal the biggest bag of drugs he could find.
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Pilots under official surveillance for drink, drug problems
24th February 2010
New Zealand's aviation watchdog says it has some airline pilots under surveillance for alcohol or drug abuse, but can't say how many, or whether they are still flying. Civil Aviation Authority spokesman Bill Sommer said late yesterday that the agency's medical unit knew of "a few" Air New Zealand pilots who had reported their own alcohol or drug problems, or been reported by the airline as a legal requirement.
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