A Curtin University research team led by public health researcher Jonathon Hallett

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Students participating in the survey were 7,237, which represents a response rate of 56% in a survey addressed to 13,000 undergraduate students.

With a response rate at this level, in a survey of this kind, statistically speaking the probablity is high that the results tend to under report, rather than to over state the real level of alcohol drinking in the student population that was surveyed.

Ninety per cent of students drank alcohol and 34% admitted to drinking at a hazardous level. In the month prior to the survey 13% had suffered abuse from someone intoxicated by alcohol and 6% had been physically assaulted, with a !% rate for sexual assault.

The conclusions of this survey were that aroung half of the males, and nearly a third of women, were drinking at harmful levels, and were adversely affected by both their own and other students drinking behavior.

Suggestions have been made that students receive specialized counselling about the risks and opportunity to use alcohol when an undergraduate, and also to introduce methods to curb the wide range of alcohol products available, and the heavy promotion of alcohol drinking to young people.

Such well intentioned solutions perhaps miss the point – university students top their classes at school in the field of intellectual reasoning. These students know, at an intellectual level, only too well, that high levels of alcohol drinking are harmful. Students should be the first to be able to resist bait advertisements.

High numbers of students who will presumably aspire to leadership of government, and industry after three or four years of university education, are as undergraduates disturbing others who are trying to work, vomiting in student halls and bathrooms with apparent lack of concern, and are regularly being cared for by other students when they have got themselves into a drunken haze.

What could it be about the student life that puts people under so much pressure, each set up for what should be a gateway to a productive and happy future.

Perhaps a clue lies in that we, worldwide, tend to over value, as a status symbol high grades and good examination results in schools. Statistics have shown that increasing numbers of teachers are allowing children to rewrite papers and adjusting marks so as to ensure that their tuition of a class is considered to be “adequate” for the year. There are also increasing numbers of incidents in which students resort to different methods of cheating to ensure that they get adequate passes in exams.

Perhaps it is simply that many who have been entered for a college or university education are there because they are responding to parental pressure, and social expectation, rather than having made the choice to be there, and studying a particular course.

Some students, having dedicated themselves to study might lack the social skills to create for themselves better balance between pursuit of study, and recreation.

Some might want a complete break from the pressure cooker environment of academic study that is not suited to their physical disposition, or to their temperament.

School kids today are faced with an apparent “choice”,  that is to get good grades, or opt out as failures. Those wanting the best of vocational options need to specialize early in their choice of subjects. It is as if children today need to be on a mission, to succeed in their chosen field. Anything not directly relevant to the purpose is considered as being something to be discarded, a form of “tunnel vision”, based on an all or nothing mentality. The scenario is depressive of life choices, individuality and vitality, failure to can easily lead to “dropping out” and self harming behaviors.

Compulsive behavior doesn’t simply happen by chance, nor is it a result of short circuits in the brain.

Compulsive acts originally have the purpose of reducing internal tension and feelings of stress.

Get to the source of, and resolve, the undergraduate’s feelings of stress – and you will hold the key to reducing undergraduate binge and hazardous drinking.

Undergrads and young people don’t binge drink, get anxious, depressed or suicide because they are perfectionists with a drive to succeed. They are looking for an effective way to get out of surroundings of endless pressure in which they feel that they have failed, are failing, might fail. Perfectionism originates in a desire to please, a need win approval.

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Students who abuse alcohol need a good dose of unconditional love and unconditional acceptance, to be loved for who they are, given complete freedom of choice, even to quit their studies.

It is for the best, is never the answer until we know whose best interests are being served by “it”. Too many students think they have no other option but to complete their studies, and “succeed”, if they want to be loved and approved of.

That students are abusive to their peers, committing sexual violence should be a warning that they are offloading problems that they have that cannot be more directly addressed. Student drinking is a response to emotional pressure, that needs to be addressed and relieved.

Students may need help to sort out their feelings, independently of parental or social imperatives.

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Students in trouble, and drinking too much can call a Narconon helpline, get help to sort their problems out, and bring an end to substance abuse.

Kids born with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome disorders are twice punished in life.

The real cause of the problem of FAS as a public health liability, would seem to be that authorities with the responsibility to get to kids at risk,  (meaning those still in the womb) don’t want to target in their FAS education programs pregnant women who drink alcohol, who put their child at risk.

Since 2010, the Canadian Bar Association has expressed its concern that normal sentencing options for those who commit crimes, don’t seem to work for people who suffer from FAS related disorders. When people lack a capacity for insight, to learn from their mistakes, and have no control over impulsive behavior – jail is not a deterrent, nor is it a means to enable rehabilitation.

People with FAS disorders who get jailed for their anti social behavior and crimes simply are penalized once again, for an abuse committed against them by their mother.

With 1.9% of the general population suffering FAS related disorders, the percentage of people of aboriginal origin that suffer from FAS is far higher. Aboriginal people account for 17% of the prison population. It can be assumed that many are there because they suffer from untreated FAS disorders.

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In 2006, FAS was flagged as a growth industry – with government prepared to pay out to carers, on behalf of families with an FAS child, that cannot afford the bills, a massive $14,000.00 per year, per child by way of a subsidy for drug costs, “special education” needs, and physiotherapy.

We need a supply of FAS affected kids to support what has become a $344 million a year industry to which affected families contribute only 19% of the cost – if they can afford it.

Researchers in the field are not calling for more resources to stop FAS, only for more money to treat people, born into this world, suffering from FAS related disorders. People are calling for more money to service FAS affected “clients”, for more money to enable research and development into ways of treating FAS.

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The chair of the FASD Action Network recently said in an article that members of the network meet each month to discuss strategies for dealing with FAS, working on a website and delivering educational packages to a variety of agencies, schools and interest groups, together with lectures and workshops, in partnership with Queens University.

“They do not target their message to pregnant women, because they want to remove the blame.”

They target other people, who it is hoped, will talk to women who they know, who are pregnant and drinking alcohol, so that they can inform the pregnant mothers that they should not be alcohol drinking and that they should stop.

Researchers at Queens University have now been funded for 15 years in the field of FAS disorders. They remain hopeful that better diagnoses and new treatments will be found.

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Although researchers can now assess brain damage by measuring eye control in people affected by FAS, no one has yet discovered a way to stop pregnant women from drinking.

And yet, what well adjusted and healthy woman would choose to drink alcohol while pregnant knowing that alcohol drinking could damage her child.

It is not a matter of blaming to approach a pregnant woman and enquire about her level of alcohol drinking, it is not a harmful intervention to offer a pregnant woman comprehensive alcohol counseling that will not only stop her from wanting to drink, but improve her overall health and eventual outcomes for the pregnancy.

The truth about why FAS authorities don’t approach pregnant, alcohol drinking women is that they have nothing to offer them that can stop them from alcohol drinking,

The average cost of a comprehensive alcohol recovery program in Canada might be around $14,000 and you have a potentially pregnant woman, or someone already with child, completely off alcohol for the rest of their life, This compares favorably with a period from 5-16 years, when around $14,000 a year is expended, on every FAS child in FAS recovery, and the related social cost of services that will need to be provided to the alcoholic mother of the FAS child.

Brain injuries caused by FAS might not be irreversible – in fact it is by use of comprehensive alcohol rehab services that people most affected by FASD stand the best possible chance of recovery. The methods that best treat alcohol addiction, also best treat the side effects and symptomatology associated with alcohol abuse, whether it be fetal or intentional.

It is never too late to start on a comprehensive alcohol abuse recovery program – even if the alcohol got into your system when you were still a fetus. Many children of alcoholic parents suffer from FAS related symptoms – with self help and assisted recovery programs bringing only limited relief.

People who suffer from alcohol abuse related cognitive and emtional disturbance can be helped by comprehensive alcohol addiction recovery programs to get a new start in life, and to overcome problems that have been induced by alcohol toxicity.

We will never get to celebrate the last case of FAS under the present regime that prioritizes the mother’s drinking, over the entitlement of every child born in this world to enjoy optimal health.

Mothers who get the message, children with FAS related disorders will find help, and healing at comprehensive alcohol addiction recovery programs in Canada.

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Now is the moment, in which we live, now is the moment to make change. Leave the past, and gain a future – with comprehensive alcohol addiction – drug free recovery programs, in Canada.

There is much controversy about the use of alcohol in skin care products

People concerned about applying alcohol to their skin, can use freshly prepared skin treatments at home, have specialists apply them, or seek out commercial skin care products that contain no alcohol or synthetic chemicals.

An article by Stuart Thomson as Director of the Gaia Research Institute comes out strongly against the use of ethyl alcohol in skin care products, particularly those described as being “organic” and “natural”. He points out that although alcohol is a natural product, it is in fact the toxic waste product of fermentation – playing no active role in healthy cell functioning.

High concentrations of ethyl alcohol in skin care products can be cytotoxic.

Concentrations of alcohol between 10% and 35% can be antibacterial, and antifungal. The article points out that when alcohol is used in this way, it’s effects are only short term, as the alcohol evaporates, or gets metabolized by the body. In fact, recent research has shown that the most effective hand wash to rid the hands of germs and residual debris is to use a regular bar of soap with plenty of hot water.

The article says that whereas alcohol might help reduce the number of toxic cells in the body, it non selectively kills healthy tissue as well.

Alcohol is a catalyst in the development of cancers and tumors. The acetaldehyde produced when alcohol is metabolized by the body is the main factor causing tissue and DNA damage.

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Safer alcohol based skin products are said to be those based on coconut oil – Cetyl alcohol and Stearyl alcohol – with  Cetearyl alcohol used as an emulsifier. The oils in the coconut offset the drying effects of alcohol.

The purpose of including alcohol in skin care products is that it assists penetration of the skin barrier, and is a preservative. Some organic skin care products do not use alcohol or synthetic substances, and so are more user friendly to the skin.

Alcohol dries the skin, and can cause irritation. Alcohol and vitamin A is a bad combination. Alcohol prevents metabolism of Vitamin A, and having less available Vitamin A contributes to premature aging and wrinkles.

Too much Vitamin A caused by alcohol interfering with its metabolism – can lead to Vitamin A toxicity.

All types of vitamin deficiency caused by alcohol lead to general lethargy, and an unhealthy complexion.

Alcohol dilates blood vessels and so causes the red, flushed face of the chronic alcoholic. Liver function is adversely affected by alcohol drinking. If the liver is sluggish in removing toxins from the blood, these might be excreted in sweat, through the skin, causing the skin to look dull and unhealthy, rather than fresh and glowing.

Combining alcohol with nicotine when drinking and smoking cigarettes intensifies the aging effects of both drugs, with cigarette smoking increasing tension lines and wrinkles around the mouth. Nicotine smoking discolors the teeth. Alcohol drinking tends to cause weakening of the tooth enamel, gum disease and halitosis.

Alcohol drinking can exacerbate the appearance of skin disorders such as rosacea, psoriasis, acne, and eczema.

Alcohol as a topical preparation, and alcoholism are detrimental to wound healing. Better than alcohol to avoid septic skin conditions is the highly regarded juice of the aloe vera plant for the healing of cuts and abrasions.

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People looking for skin care products to enhance the appearance of their skin need to consider that a heathy skin is more or less a reflection of good health within.

Good food, sleep, exercise and a stress free life will help to make your skin look healthy and fresh. Using natural alcohol free skin products will enhance the appearance of your skin. Abstinence from alcohol drinking with enhance the health of your body.

Stress reduction can help to relieve skin disorders such as rosacea, and psoriasis – prolific acne is said to be promoted by underlying anger and tension. Harmony within the body brings natural good looks and an absence of wrinkles.

Both alcohol drinking and cigarette smoking stress the body and cause disorders of the skin, contributing to an aged appearance, wrinkles and tension lines on the face. Topical applications to improve appearance work best when attention is given to comprehensive good health in the body, and stress reduction in the mind.

People who feel that they are depleting their body of its health and good looks by too much alcohol drinking can get help to stop drinking, regain their peace of mind by using a comprehensive, drug free and completely natural alcohol recovery program.

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Using the low heat sauna detox as part of a comprehensive alcohol recovery program helps you to detox from alcohol – and provides healthy, natural skin care.

Alcohol drinking can cause vitamin deficiency

Vitamin deficiency can also occur as a result of reduced nutrition, due to a preference for alcohol drinking.

Reduced availability of vitamins might not show up as a frightening case of beri-beri, scurvy or a bad attack of “the shakes” – simply as a day to day lethargy, lack of energy and “pep”.

Poor diet and problems with absorption of food effectively lead to chronic malnutrition.

Alcoholics might favor charcuterie – smoked, salty, fatty preserved meats, fast foods, snack foods due to alcohol causing lack of an appetite for food that is more bulky, fresh and wholesome.

The preservatives used in charcuterie and all preserved foods include nitrites and other chemicals toxic to the body – with potential toxicity increased by the presence of alcohol.

Some alcoholics eat very little, and then tend to favor “sweet” foods – high in refined starch and.sugar – that provide “empty calories” by way of nutrition, as does alcohol.

Alcohol drinking adversely affects nutrition and uptake of all the health giving vitamins and minerals.

Alcohol drinking puts the liver under stress. Nutrients contained in the liver include carotenoids. This source of vitamins A and E is depleted by alcohol drinking.

Vitamins are classified as A,B,C,D,E and K, with eight sub groups of Vitamin B and  they are essential to enable many of the complex bio chemical processes that support good health in the body. When vitamins are absent due to alcoholism, it leads to deficiency disorders, serious and sometimes irreversible neurological damage – and to the development of classic alcohol related disorders – such as Korsakoff’s syndrome and Wernicke’s disease.

Many people think that the answer to alcohol depletion is to keep on drinking , and increase your vitamin intake. Taking in an overdose of synthetic multivitamins as supplied by a health store or pharmacy will not provide any worthwhile improvement to biological functioning.

Vitamin and mineral supplements can be helpful in recovery from acute alcohol toxicity and addiction – however, they need to be adminstered in measured quantities, with appropriate monitoring, nutritional support – and with alcohol abstinence. Dropping a Berocca into your beer will most likely lead only to indigestion.

Vitamins of the B group in particular are depleted by alcohol, with reduction of thiamine (B1), niacin B3, and B6 associated with nervous debility. Vitamin K deficiency is associated with increased bleeding, and the risk of broken bones.

Alcohol reduces fat absorption and so reduces availability of fat soluble vitamins A, D, and E. Vitamin A when given medicinally in high doses, has the potential to become toxic – more so when combined with alcohol. If you drink alcohol and take high dose vitamin A – you could be causing or contributing to liver damage.

Vitamins are an integral part of fresh and health giving foods – outside of a professional healthcare regime, doses of single or multi vitamins simply should not be used.

Preference needs to be given to getting vitamins directly from good food to provide optimal nutrition. Different food groups will have higher amounts of specific vitamins.

The importance of having enough of the essential vitamins and good nutrition is widely promoted but is rarely put into action. Nutrition in Canada, and most developed countries is good but not the best that it could be.

We pay the price in terms of increased levels of mental and physical disorder, vulnerability to disease, loss of productivity, obesity, diabetes and reduced longevity. Alcohol drinking with inadequate nutrition puts a stress on the body and undermines good health.

In 1996, a Health Canada report:  Nutrition for Health – An Agenda for Action - reveals that adequate nutrition for all Canadians was then a concern. It remains a problem today.

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In 2011, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention identifies four primary causes of chronic disease – citing lack of exercise, tobacco use – and poor nutrition and alcohol drinking.

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Alcohol drinking, poor nutrition and inadequate vitamin intake are associated with disease, premature aging and early death.

If you need help, suffer chronic ill health, associated with alcohol drinking – you can be helped to stop drinking and recover good health by using a comprehensive alcohol addiction recovery program at a live-in residential center in Canada.

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Comprehensive alcohol recovery programs include low heat sauna detox to excrete alcohol and its metabolites completely from your system.

The craving for alcohol is reduced with complete detoxification, together with administration of high dose niacin (Vitamin B3), vitamin and mineral supplements.

Also provided is  health giving vegetarian food – based on the world acclaimed mediterranean diet.

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Comprehensive alcohol recovery programs use scientifically proven methods to restore healthy balance to body and mind.

Without a basis of good food and vitamins, we cannot regain good health.

People who want to stop alcohol drinking – and make good health their priority, will get the comprehensive help that they need – by using the Narconon program.

The results of a survey recently conducted by the US Centers for Disease Control showed that in all age groups there is a growing trend towards both men and women binge drinking. Although the amount of alcohol consumed in a session tends to decline with age, those in the over 65′s group are binge drinking more frequently – five or six times a month.

In terms of income, the pattern shows high levels of binge drinking where family income exceeds $75,000 a year.

Where household incomes are less than $25,000 – alcohol intake is generally higher – drinking an average of eight or nine drinks a session.

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The report indicates that more than half of the alcohol drunk by adults is consumed while binge drinking, and that ninety per cent of the alcohol drunk by young people is at binge drinking sessions. Although most people involved in alcohol impaired driving have been binge drinking, the report declares that most people who binge drink – are not alcohol dependent or alcoholic.

The study reports that an apparent increase in binge drinking in 2010 – 17.1% of the population binge drinking, compared with 15.2% in 2009, could be result of including in the survey people who only use cellular phones – with people who use only a cellular phone tending to report higher levels of binge drinking than landline respondents.

The survey confirms that very likely binge drinking is under reported, and likely to be higher in fact than as recorded by the survey. Campus students and military personnel are among groups not represented in the survey.

While expressing concern for the human toll that this level of excessive drinking causes throughout the community, and while regretting the cost in dollar terms – that was estimated at around $223.5 billion in 2006 - proposals to improve the situation, to curb the incidence of alcohol drinking – appear to be somewhat limited.

Whilst people are encouraged to make the choice not to binge drink on alcohol, support appears to focused upon restrictions to supply. Measures such as reducing the number of liquor outlets, restricting opening hours, increased prices for alcohol drinks, and making alcohol suppliers responsible for sales to minors and intoxicated people are suggested.

No one would dispute that drinking alcohol at binge drinking levels is, despite transcient feelings of happiness, essentially self harming behavior. Anyone who drinks alcohol at such levels, who suffers no hangover effects, very likely has a more severe alcohol drinking problem than they realize.

When people suffer from painful symptoms of alcohol withdrawal, it is a sign that the body is still alive and functional – doing the job of detoxifying the body of its alcohol intake. A lack of responsiveness – high tolerance for alcohol, and a lack of hangover symptoms can lead people into thinking that they can “handle” their alcohol and regular binge drinking. It can take some time for the effects of chronic alcohol drinking to show up – as alcohol related diseases and disorders.

For the authors of this survey to suggest that most people who are binge drinking don’t have a problem of alcohol dependence or alcoholism possibly calls for a better definition of what constitutes alcohol dependence and alcoholism.

We have at the moment, authorities in Great Britain, saying that an ability to abstain from alcohol drinking for at least two days of the week, is an indicator that you don’t have a problem with alcohol, that you are not an alcoholic.

Sir Ian Gilmore, Chair of the Alcohol Health Alliance said that having two dry days a week is a very good indicator of not being addicted to alcohol.

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It is however, made quite clear, that issues still arise, if you alternate your days of sobriety with high levels of alcohol drinking. As the Sun newspaper asks - Can a two day alcohol holiday cure boozy UK? - where an estimated 10.5 million people drink alcohol to excessive and dangerous levels.

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In Canada too there is public concern about levels of alcohol drinking, following the recent publication of editorial in the CMAJ medical journal, saying that alcohol might now have reached the status of tobacco 60 years ago, when the connection between smoking and lung cancer was first established.

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The problem with addiction, such as to alcohol is that it has been for many years, regarded as an incomprehensible, and incurable disease.

Viewed as a compulsive behavioral disorder, it can readily be seen, that addiction to alcohol drinking can be resolved by dealing with the causes of our compulsion to use it.

Comprehensive alcohol and drug addiction recovery programs have had over 45 years of direct experience in enabling successful recovery from alcohol dependency and addiction – by helping people to deal with the causes of their addictive behavior, and “choice” to use alcohol.

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Making a choice for freedom from hitting the bottle is not about taking two day breaks, or curbing your alcohol intake.

Getting free of alcohol drinking means taking control of your life – with the help that can be obtained from comprehensive alcohol addiction recovery centers.

The death at New Year of a “wet house” resident in Alaska has sparked continued debate as to the efficacy, and the value of providing serviced, low cost accommodation for long term alcoholics.

The alcoholic was 54 years old, and had lived on the streets of Anchorage for around 10 years of the 20 years that he had been homeless, dying within a month of the locally controversial opening of a “wet house” in the former Red Roof Inn, now known as Karluk Manor.

It is easy to forget when someone has been an alcoholic, for many years, that there was a time, before alcohol entered their life, a family, a story – a real person behind the label – homeless alcoholic. John Kort was intelligent, had been to university, had worked and had relationship with other people – a family that loved him.

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The Karluk initiative is based on the model of project accommodation in Seattle for chronic alcoholics.

The Seattle project, Eastlake, provides supported accommodation for homeless alcoholics. Public goodwill has begun to ease with a finding that many alcoholics using the Eastlake facility also abuse emergency services in the area – an estimated cost to the local community being $500,000 for five alcoholics over a two year period – over a $130,000 in ambulance bills and emergency care – over $335,000 for repeated entry into the Seattle Detoxification Center.

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The Eastlake site, in Seattle, that houses around 75 homeless alcoholics is looking to re-accommodate some people in other facilities, so that alcoholics who only need to sober up, are not placed, at great public expense in medically supervised premises.

The situation underlines the fundamental controversy about providing accommodation to alcoholics where they are allowed to drink – with no obligation to attend any form of rehab. Does the service actually benefit alcoholics, or simply become irresponsible and enabling behavior.

No one doubts that it is humane to provide warmth, and food and shelter for those people who have become homeless, who cannot do better for themselves. However, the question remains as to whether it is appropriate to maintain this continued support without at least directing the alcoholics to rehab, or at some point, requiring as a condition of support that they attempt to remain sober.

Unfortunately the underlying principal behind well intentioned wet houses is that alcoholism is untreatable, that people not able or willing to enter a 12 step program can only be expected to eventually drink themselves to death - wet houses simply provide them with a measure of safety and dignity as they approach the end of their life.

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What is not made clear, when dealing with the issue of wet houses is that for the majority of residents, they have previously been in detox and rehab facilities – and have failed to achieve recovery.

Wet houses are really the visible sign that traditional methods for alcoholism recovery don’t work – the best that is achieved is the sobriety of 12 step programs under which every day is a challenge to avoid renewed temptation to drink.

Putting alcoholics into wet houses is thought by some to be humane – others see it as an avoidance of further responsibility for outcomes for the alcoholic. Alcoholics given an allowance are free to spend it as they wish – most spend it all on alcohol – and to some extent it is a question of what is real help, and what is enabling behavior.

Although 12 step programs do not provide the same level of intensive support, that you will find in a comprehensive center, they at least follow the same essential principle of all addiction recovery which is that a person must first give up their substance abuse before real recovery can be enabled.

Perhaps it is time for families of alcoholics, and for alcoholics themselves to consider the use of comprehensive alcohol addiction recovery centers – not a wet house, nor a 12 step program, comprehensive alcohol recovery programs provide complete detoxification in an environment that is supportive of complete addiction recovery.

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Alcohol is used compulsively by some individuals to deal with feelings of inadequacy, and emotional pain. Other people might might use other substances or process to satisfy their compulsive need to get away from their pain, but for all people who suffer from addiction, the underlying dynamics are the same.

Comprehensive alcohol recovery centers understand the real nature of addiction, and have a social model, based on scientific principles that gets people to resolve their reasons for addiction – and once the causes are resolved – there is simply no more addiction, or need for any kind of alcohol drinking or substance abuse.

People responsible for the care and control of alcoholics need to consider, on their behalf, programs that enable complete alcoholism recovery. Family members and public authorities who want to see an end to chronic alcoholism need to give serious consideration to using a comprehensive program so as to bring about real change – and a reduction of alcoholism in the year 2012.

Researchers from the University of Victoria Center for Addictions Research of BC (CARBC)

Twenty years of data was studied to arrive at the conclusion that a 10% increase in alcohol pricing led to a 3.4% reduction in alcohol drinking. Further research is intended to discover more about the impact of minimum pricing on consumption patterns, and alcohol related harm.

Although the price of alcohol has risen over the years – when indexed to inflation, it is only the minimum price for spirits that has kept pace with inflation. In real terms, other alcohol drinks are now relatively cheaper than ever before.

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Although many studies support the position that on balance, increased alcohol prices reduce alcohol consumption, a study was done in 1995, to examine the influence of increased alcohol prices on groups of light, moderate and heavy alcohol drinkers.

It was shown that light and heavy drinkers are less responsive to cutting their alcohol intake, in response to an increase in price.

It was moderate drinkers, who would mostly cut down their alcohol drinking, due to the expense.

The article suggests that for very heavy alcohol drinkers, who might be considered alcoholics, they simply keep on drinking, regardless of increased price.

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The latest in alcohol research shows that damage to health can occur, such as an increased risk of breast cancer in women, with any amount of alcohol drinking. The risks to health with alcohol drinking start with only one drink.

While the drinking of alcohol in moderate amounts has been widely touted as having health benefits, experts are cautious, particularly for young people. It is not recommended that young people drink any alcohol at all, and experts are adamant that no one who doesn’t already drink, should take up alcohol drinking on the basis of its alleged benefits to health.

The intention behind increased alcohol prices is to reduce the amount of drinking, not to totally stop it. As such, minimum pricing for alcohol operates mainly so as to discourage the moderate drinker from drinking as much they otherwise would, if alcohol was cheaper.

Light and heavy drinkers probably do continue to drink as usual under increased pricing policies. Increased alcohol pricing does not stop people from drinking alcohol at levels potentially dangerous to their health, it would only seem to curb excessive drinking in the moderate drinking group.

What increased alcohol pricing probably achieves is fewer fights on Saturday nights, less unruly behavior, perhaps fewer accidents caused by drunken behavior, easier crowd control at public events where alcohol is served.

From the viewpoint of maintaining public order, increased alcohol prices probably do the job of getting some people to cut down on their excessive alcohol drinking, reducing alcohol related public disorder and violence.

Increased alcohol pricing will also cut down the cost of health care for people in the moderate drinking group.

However, in terms of general risk to health – alcohol pricing does not help. One or two drinks, on a regular basis, will not be deterred by increased minimum pricing, and it is sufficient to damage our health.

As a method of preventing alcohol related harm, it would seem that education and informed abstinence from regular alcohol drinking is still the best and the only method that has a hope of achieving overall harm reduction.

The problem with alcohol drinking today is that people receive mixed messages – no one with authority is prepared to come out and say that alcohol drinking is not beneficial and should be avoided if possible.

The alcohol industry is a major employer, a major source of public revenue. As a result, we don’t talk in terms of abstinence, not even for pregnant women and young people, but carry on drinking regardless – hopefully thinking, where harm is concerned, that it won’t happen to us.

People who are concerned about their alcohol drinking can get the help that they need, to give up alcohol drinking and get their life back on track, from comprehensive alcohol and drug addiction recovery centers in Canada.

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When people give up the habit of alcohol drinking it opens many new doors – more money to spend, more energy to spare, less downtime grounded by hangovers.

New Year is a good time to consider making a resolution to give up your alcohol drinking, and explore the possiblities in life that habitual alcohol drinking prevents you from fully enjoying.

What minimum pricing for alcohol drinks really means to the consumer is that buying an alcohol drink does not represent very good value for money.

There are many better ways to spend your hard earned dollar – with so much more to show for it, in terms of health and satisfaction.

With complete psychosis, there is no experience of self, and a person simply cannot function. In real life, although some people feel excessively dominated by extreme emotions,( the dominance usually caused by some previous inter action with punitive and or abusive circumstances ) they have to some extent been able to achieve a sense of “self’ and who they are.

Although the ego is very fragile, there has been enough positive influence in a persons life to enable the person to develop a sense of “being”, a sense of “self” – a veneer of self esteem. Beneath the veneer of control are massive psychic conflicts that have never been resolved – if something rouses these passions up – it can lead to a psychotic break. The psychiatric test for psychosis is no longer “in touch” with reality – and suffering from apparent delusions.

In situations of stress and conflict, when their sense of self worth and personal integrity is placed under threat – and particularly if alcohol has been consumed, a person with no integrated sense of “how to respond and react”, will find themselves with no support between their outer veneer of control, and their real feelings of being hopeless, worthless and powerless (as they felt when in the earlier abusive situation). These latent feelings might surface as if the person is still “in” their previous confusion and emotional turmoil.

In psychosis a person reverts under pressure to an earlier period in their life when they felt about to be destroyed, felt worthless, felt nothing except what their abusive situation forced them to be.

All counselors know that people who are psychotic must be given supportive counseling. If someone is psychotic, their ego is very fragile, they must not be further abused.

Many people have developed a veneer of self esteem, that is vulnerable to emotional pressure.

A person who has developed genuine self esteem can accept challenge and denigration – they have a sense of their own self worth. They can accept appropriate criticism, consider reflectively, refuse to be cast down by someone else’s negativity, negotiate for change.

With psychosis, a person is under immense stress, does not know what to do. They lash out, abuse, seek pity, cajole – anything to stop the descent into feeling completely powerless, compressed. Sometimes, defensively, people in psychosis become enraged.

People in psychosis have no safety nets – a loss of emotional stability is a free fall into oblivion, and they will use everything that they have to fight against it – even murder their attacker or themselves just to relieve the fear, anxiety and pressure.

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It is not exactly alcohol that is talking in psychosis – it is a fragmentary dialogue as between the person and their original persecutor(s) – facilitated by alcohol. But for alcohol drinking, the person might have stayed in control, but still they will have this underlying tendency towards psychosis whenever placed under particular pressures.

In terms of what causes addiction to alcohol, studies have shown that people who drink alcohol regularly can easily overcome an urge to drink that is based merely upon it’s enjoyment potential but that they cannot resist alcohol to subdue strong emotional, negative feelings. Alcoholism is not about genes, or controlled by intricate chemical loops, it is about getting relief from impending deep depression and or anxiety, it is controlled by our negative thoughts.

And of course, the more we drink alcohol, the more negative our thoughts might become. Eventually people might need alcohol to keep depression and anxiety at bay – just to feel like “normal”.

Not all people with psychotic potential drink alcohol, not all alcoholics are psychotic, but alcohol drinking can lead to confusion, disinhibition and social confrontation that is identical in it’s appearance to a pathological underlying psychosis.

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Narconon centers throughout the world have a capacity to detox people for alcohol abuse, get them clean and on the path to recovery from their alcohol addiction. Opening the gateway to better understanding and communication, is the key to resolving issues of alcoholism and alcohol induced psychosis.

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If you are looking for a magic cure – magic happens at Narconon.

Narconon is a social model for drug addiction recovery – that works. The program is based on holistic theory that treats the whole person, and not their symptoms. Narconon is backed up by scientific research, peer reviews and accolades from their past students.

If alcohol drinking is bringing you down, making you sometimes feel psycho – now is the time to get help – not after some damage is done by you while intoxicated by alcohol.

Comprehensive detox and rehab is 100% drug free.

Get off alcohol for good, and feel really clean by making a choice to use a comprehensive alcohol and drug addiction recovery program.

Alcohol

People who normally choose not to drink alcohol might enjoy a Christmas drink. Sherry with their pudding or colorful liquors with their coffee. Alcohol drinks vary in their alcohol content, come in a variety of tempting flavors, textures and colors. We can easily underestimate the alcohol content of the drinks we are drinking when in the mood to party and socialize.

People unaccustomed to drinking alcohol should limit their alcohol intake. If expecting problems caused by alcohol drinking, you can make a Christmas party less of a potential worry by introducing an alcohol ban. People intoxicated, or wanting to drink, can simply go elsewhere.

Alcohol drinking is no fun when you are unsteady on your feet, and the room is spinning, people are making too much noise, and you are beginning to get a headache.

Alcohol effects with lots of food can take some time to develop, and leave you with a hazy feeling of having drunk too much. Don’t drink more alcohol than your body can handle at any given time, and space your alcohol drinking – about an hour between standard drinks is widely recommended.

Parents wanting to relax, put their feet up and enjoy the spirit of Christmas need to remember that it is business as usual where the care of young children is concerned. Making sure that kids are safe has to remain our number one priority. Small items that come out of Christmas crackers, plugs for Christmas lights, unlocked swimming pool gates and unguarded heating appliances can all be a source of danger – as can be kids drinking alcohol from wine casks and leftover bottles.

It is always sad to hear of car crashes that happen over Christmas - sometimes overcrowded with relatives, some people not wearing seat belts, or holding young children in their arms. Sometimes accidents involve young people inexperienced with drinking – and then driving friends home from a party. None of the tragedy needs to happen – if everyone, drivers and passengers make it a rule - no drink driving or risk taking on the road during the festive season.

Too much alcohol can spoil your Christmas Day, and leave you feeling hungover - spoiling the enjoyment of activities you plan to do tomorrow. Alcohol drinking endangers you and other people when you mix it with activities that require alertness, awareness and physical stamina for optimal safety. For some activities you just have to be clear in you thinking and sober, otherwise you put your own, and other people’s lives at avoidable risk.

Recent changes to USA law enable Sunday Alcohol Trading. (see article)*

With Christmas Day being a Sunday this year, the push for alcohol revenues means that this year for the first time ever – sales of alcohol can occur on Christmas Day. In Michigan liquor stores can be open until nearly midnight on Christmas Eve, and open again at noon on Christmas Day.Previously liquor stores were closed from 9pm December 24 to 7am December 26.

Gone are the times when business closed down so that employees could spend Christmas with their families. Many people now actively seek to work public holidays and Christmas – in non-essential industries, simply to get some extra money. Another example of a subtle erosion of family values in favor of materialism.

People alone at Christmas might drink alcohol for something to do. Many more people than you might think are in the same boat over Christmas – people alone might like to consider joining a social group rather than drink at home over Christmas.

People addicted to alcohol drinking might find that the festive season tends to intensify and fuel tensions and issues that relate to their alcohol drinking. Some will see the extended holiday as an opportunity to break out and binge on alcohol, increase their alcohol intake.

The extended holiday for Christmas and New Year is a time when alcoholics – anyone who thinks that they are drinking too much, can reflect on their future, and the way it could be if they gave up their alcohol drinking – and became addiction free.

If Christmas means alcohol drinking to deal with irksome relatives, means the probability of domestic violence fueled by alcohol drinking, arguments between family members, the lead up time to the New Year is an ideal time to consider getting help for your problems,

Comprehensive alcohol and drug addiction recovery centers know where you have been and why concerning the abuse of alcohol, and drugs.

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Comprehensive alcohol anddrug addiction recovery methods enable you to come to terms with family issues, and most importantly enable you to feel better about yourself. Too much alcohol drinking means that you have got personal issues that need to be resolved.

What better time than now, to start yourself or a family member on the road to alcohol addiction recovery.