An archive of recent news articles on the topic of alcohol and drugs.
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Workers say drug taking common - survey
11th May 2007
BRISBANE: About one in four employees say fellow workers take illegal drugs at work, a survey has found.
Human resources and recruitment firm Talent2 said an internet survey of more than 1700 people in several different industry groups showed a high number of people who took illegal drugs while on the job.
Those aged between 18 and 24 were nearly five times more likely to have consumed drugs than the rest of the working population, said Talent2 director John Banks.
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Cost of P lab blasts climbs
10th May 2007
A $200,000-plus medical bill for an alleged Christchurch methamphetamine cook, burnt in a P lab explosion, has been described as typical of a growing problem costing taxpayers millions of dollars.
The blast in a suburban Hei Hei home in March was the second alleged clandestine P laboratory to explode in Christchurch this year.
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One in three Aussie women drink through pregnancy
9th May 2007
One in three Australian women do not understand how alcohol affects an unborn baby and about the same number say they will drink through their next pregnancy, a national survey has found.
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Crashes tied to lower drink age
8th May 2007
Is the lower drinking age to blame? What can be done?
Send us your views
Alcohol-related crashes involving drivers aged 18 and 19 have jumped since the legal drinking age was lowered to 18.
A Massey University study has found that alcohol-related crashes declined steadily from almost 300 for every 100,000 drivers in that age bracket in 1990 to below 100 at the end of the decade, reflecting the national campaign against drink-driving.
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Beer-loving Aussies turn to softer brew
7th May 2007
CANBERRA: Australians, long regarded as a nation of beer drinkers rivalled only by the Germans, seem to be turning soft, or sober.
After 113 years, the country's biggest selling beer, Victoria Bitter, or VB, is to be produced in a mid-strength version to keep pace with the country's fast-changing beer tastes.
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Judge tells drink-driver to eat a hamburger
4th May 2007
A district court judge yesterday gave a Hastings drink-driver some sober advice about avoiding the effects of too much alcohol – eat an old-style hamburger first.
Visiting Auckland Judge Barry Morris convicted and fined Peter Goodwin Brittin, 46, $1350, with court costs of $130, and disqualified him from driving for 15 months after he admitted driving with excess breath alcohol.
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Dogs 'given P' to make them fiercer
3rd May 2007
The pitbulls that terrified a group of children will be destroyed today, amid claims that some owners feed their dogs P to make them more aggressive.
OWNER OF HERO JACK RUSSELL WANTS DOGS CONTROLLED IN TOWN
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Auckland schoolboy 'unsure' of P charges
1st May 2007
A schoolboy charged with importing methamphetamine after a police raid on his family home says he has no idea how much P he is accused of smuggling into New Zealand.
Police swooped on 17-year-old Chun Lee's family home in the North Shore suburb of Takapuna on Friday night and searched it for drugs. They returned later and charged Lee with importing the Class A drug.
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Alcohol damages women's brains faster than men's
30th April 2007
The brain-damaging effects of alcohol strike women more quickly than men, a new study conducted in Russia confirms.
Female alcoholics performed worse on a number of tests of neurocognitive function compared with males, Dr Barbara Flannery from RTI International in Baltimore and her colleagues found.
However, Flannery cautioned in an interview with Reuters Health, the findings aren't good news for alcohol-dependent men. "Women are vulnerable to the extent to which they will experience the negative consequences of alcohol abuse and alcoholism more rapidly than men, but men will also experience it – the same kinds of effects," she said.
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Doctor in trouble over P drug
13th April 2007
A prominent Auckland doctor faces a professional misconduct charge for allegedly prescribing more than 46,000 tablets of a drug used to make methamphetamine.
The case against Papakura-based GP Rhys Michael Cullen can now be revealed after the Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal declined his applications for name suppression and to have the proceedings struck out.
In a decision out yesterday, it rejected his argument that the charges did not amount to professional misconduct, saying there were "very large" quantities of drugs involved.
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