An archive of recent news articles on the topic of alcohol and drugs.
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Mental illness ravaging nation's youth
11th February 2010
ALARMING new figures have revealed that one in four young people are battling a mental illness, with many problems triggered by drug and alcohol abuse. The first snapshot of Australia's mental health in a decade found that Generation Y is being ravaged by depression, anxiety disorders and substance abuse.
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Rudd wants rise in drinking age
10th February 2010
Kevin Rudd would like to see the drinking age in Australia raised from 18 to 21 years. The Prime Minister said he would prefer an increase, given a recent series of tragic accidents involving P-plate drivers.
Since the start of the year 12 teenagers have been killed in cars driven by P-plate drivers in New South Wales and Victoria.
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DIY drinks doubly potent
10th February 2010
Gin and tonics and other spirit drinks mixed at home are stronger than most people realise, new figures show. People underestimate the size of spirit measures when making their own drinks, a series of experiments has shown. Most were unable to pour 25ml of a spirit into a glass, accidentally giving themselves an average of 50 per cent extra.
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Drug firm bankrolls P education
9th February 2010
A trust that teaches schoolchildren about the dangers of P will pay for the programme using money from a major manufacturer of pseudoephedrine-based cold and flu tablets.Stellar Trust chairman Alistair Burry said the trust had thought long and hard before deciding to work with multinational pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline.
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Ban smoking from beaches, health officials ask
9th February 2010
Taxpayer-funded health officials are calling on the Government to increase tobacco tax and ban smoking in many outdoor public areas such as beaches. The call from the Auckland Regional Public Health Service for a range of tough measures comes in its submission to the Maori affairs select committee's forthcoming inquiry into the tobacco industry and the effects of tobacco use on Maori.
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Big drinkers, slow learners, quick fixes
4th February 2010
Australia has a drinking problem. And with the recent proliferation of no-booze awareness campaigns and fund-raisers such as FebFast, Dry July and Ocsober, it appears more people are heeding the message. But are the self-imposed booze droughts a gimmick or do they really have benefits?
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Aussie mum plys five-year-old son with booze
3rd February 2010
A mother in Australia has been given a five-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, after giving alcohol to her five-year old son.Kylie Eastwood, 33, gave the child four or five shots of home brew, which was 44 percent ethanol, reports Herald Sun.The boy was taken to hospital by an ambulance with a blood alcohol content level of .09 after the child's father called emergency services.
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Pills kill: study
3rd February 2010
The so-called "club drug" ecstasy is more likely than other stimulants like speed or crystal meth to kill young, healthy people who are not known as regular drug users, British researchers said on Friday. A study of stimulant-deaths in Britain between 1997 and 2007 found that those who died after taking ecstasy were mainly younger and healthier than those who died after taking amphetamines.
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Kiwis want cigarettes banned by 2020
2nd February 2010
Half the nation, including smokers, support completely banning cigarettes within 10 years, a study has found. The 2008 Health and Lifestyles Survey compiled nationwide interviews from the Health Sponsorship Council of 1608 people, including 422 smokers, and has just been published in the NZ Medical Journal.
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Turia urges price rise to reduce tobacco use
2nd February 2010
Tariana Turia Associate Health Minister Tariana Turia is pushing for greater measures to help people quit smoking which could see cigarette prices rise and tobacco displays banned from shops. Mrs Turia is preparing a paper discussing ways to lower smoking rates, which she will present to the Cabinet in the next couple of months. It will look at several methods, including an increase on the excise tax on cigarettes and removing tobacco from shop shelves.
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