Change Your Mind

Doctors yesterday reaffirmed their support for a minimum pricing strategy for a unit of alcohol. Speaking today at the BMA’s annual conference in Liverpool, Newry consultant and BMA Board of Science member Dr Peter Maguire said, “Excessive consumption of alcohol and related diseases affect all parts of society.

Doctors attending the BMA’s annual conference in Liverpool have today (Thursday 2 July 2009) backed calls to introduce a minimum price for a unit of alcohol. Proposing a motion which also included calls for clearer labelling and a total ban on alcohol advertising, Dr Chandra Mohan from Barking, Havering and Brentwood, said: “People drink alcohol in different patterns and for different reasons, so a multi-directional approach is needed to address these problems.

“Siblings are Special,” a pilot prevention program targeting fifth graders and their younger siblings, recently received $1.45 million from the National Institute on Drug Abuse as part of the National Institutes of Health’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding. The award is for two years. The program aims to enhance the quality of sibling and family relationships and thereby decrease risky behavior and use of drugs among youth as they move into middle school.

In response to a report by the Public Health Commission which says health messages need greater clarity and consistency to help people make the right choices, Chris Sorek, Chief Executive of Drinkaware, says: “When it comes to messages about health and alcohol in particular, it’s important that people have the information they need to make the decisions that are right for them.

The London Borough of Croydon’s Drug & Alcohol Action Team (DAAT) is using SAS software to achieve better results in its efforts to get more people into drug treatment, reduce drug-related crime and empower the local community to resist drug misuse. SAS, the leader in