An archive of recent news articles on the topic of alcohol and drugs.
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Aussie finance sector staff 'very unhealthy' - study
12th April 2012
They like a smoke and a drink, they shun vegetables and exercise, they have high blood pressure and cholesterol levels and are more at risk of developing diabetes and having heart attacks. And they are handling your money. Workers in the Australian financial services sector - accountants, brokers, insurers and bankers - are a very unhealthy lot, according to workplace safety regulator WorkSafe Victoria. Today WorkSafe Victoria released an analysis by Monash University of the results of more than 400,000 "WorkHealth" checks conducted over the past three years.
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Big trouble in Jekyll and Hyde city
11th April 2012
Public order offences in central Auckland soared by a staggering 27.1 per cent last year. The significant rise - totalling 4237 incidents - was due largely to nearly 1000 liquor ban breaches, new police figures show. Other crimes included disorderly behaviour, wilful damage and urinating in the street. The Herald on Sunday followed emergency services at party hotspot Karangahape Rd on Thursday to watch them deal with the growing problem. We saw: * One man being punched by a random passer-by while the victim was playfighting with a mate on the pavement.
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Australian poison report sparks call for tighter energy drink rules
11th April 2012
A sharp rise in emergency calls related to energy drinks with a high caffeine content has prompted a call for tighter regulation and compulsory health warnings. The call, rejected by the energy drink industry, came after research by the University of Sydney and the New South Wales Poisons Information Centre found an increase in symptoms including cardiac arrhythmias, tremors, dizziness, hallucinations and stomach problems. Published in the Medical Journal of Australia, the research also warned of even greater problems emerging with the "dangerous phenomenon" of mixing energy drinks with alcohol.
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Drunks terrorise suburban shoppers
10th April 2012
Mt Albert residents fed up with "menacing" transients who they say are scaring people have vowed to rid the suburb of the problem. Community leaders are urging residents and business owners to bombard authorities with complaints while they also putt pressure on police to do more. Locals say the vagrants have been driven out of the central city and were congregating at the Mt Albert shops where they were drinking, begging, busking, "hustling locals", cleaning windscreens at intersections and sniffing glue in public. "These people are quite intimidating," Albert-Eden local board spokeswoman Pauline Anderson says.
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Survey busts myth of teen sex, drugs
10th April 2012
Teenagers have less sex and take fewer drugs than is widely believed, new myth-busting research shows. However, they do face a range of threats, of which poverty, violence and alcohol are the most serious. ''Our research shows these urban myths are just plain wrong, but there are serious issues affecting our young people that we need to address,'' Dr Simon Denny of Auckland University said. More than 100 health and youth-care professionals will gather at Wellington's Te Papa today to review the Youth Health and Wellbeing Survey, conducted by the university in 2000 and 2007.
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White residue found on spoon in Houston's room
5th April 2012
Detectives found white powdery substances and a spoon with white residue in the hotel room where Whitney Houston died, according to the final autopsy report released today. Houston had cocaine throughout her system when she died, the report said, and a "spoon with a white crystal like substance in it, a rolled up piece of white paper from off the top of a counter along the east wall of the bathroom" were found. The report does not specifically identify the substances as cocaine, although the drug was found in toxicology tests in Houston's heart and extremities.
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Schapelle Corby 'closer to release'
5th April 2012
Convicted drug smuggler Schapelle Corby is a step closer to winning her freedom after Indonesia's Justice Ministry confirmed it had recommended she be granted clemency and an early release. The development comes two years after Corby first launched her bid for clemency. Corby, 34, is suffering from mental illness and struggling to cope with life inside Bali's notorious Kerobokan jail. She was jailed for 20 years in 2004 for attempting to smuggle 4.1 kilograms of marijuana into Bali in a bodyboard bag. While details of the recommendation from the Justice and Human Rights Ministry have only just emerged, a senior official confirmed the final report was handed to Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono some months ago.
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Beware beer goggles (especially if you're a woman)
4th April 2012
It is a phenomenon most often associated with the more than mildly inebriated male. But it seems that it is in fact women who are more likely to be fooled by their 'beer goggles'. Scientists have worked out why members of the opposite sex can seem more attractive after a few drinks - and they found that women's judgement was more greatly clouded by alcohol. Researchers at London's Roehampton University asked more than 100 men and women to rate pairs of faces. Some did the tests while drinking a strong vodka and tonic. Others were given a similar-tasting non-alcoholic drink or orange squash.
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Fight may cost Big Tobacco a packet
4th April 2012
Australia's plain-pack laws are pivotal in the global battle to cut smoking, writes Amy Corderoy. The troops are rallying. And as their tiny general takes the stage, the feeling of victory in the air is palpable. Margaret Chan, the head of the World Health Organisation, will fight this battle to the death She addresses her enemy: ''You run a killing and intimidating industry, but not in a crush-proof box. The number and fortitude of your public health enemies will damage your health - tobacco industry.''
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Her army, equipped with research papers and funding grants, gathered this week for the World Conference on Tobacco or Health.
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Sport blamed for Pacific teens' drinking
3rd April 2012
About a third of Pacific Island high school students binge-drink and many say they started after joining a sports team or club. A study published in the NZ Medical Journal yesterday looking at binge drinking and alcohol-related behaviours among Pacific youth surveyed 974 Pacific students aged 13 to 17 from around the country. A total of 31.6 per cent of students were identified as binge drinkers, having answered questions about their drinking habits. The study found that those teens who participated in sports teams or were connected to a sports club were more at risk of binge-drinking.
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