Editor Brian Harrod Provides Comprehensive up-to-date news coverage, with aggregated news from sources all over the world from the Roundup Newswires Network
Reputation for heavy drinking on the slide since Putin measures including curbs on alcohol sales
Russia may still have a reputation as a nation of heavy drinkers, but a report by the World Health Organization shows alcohol consumption has dropped by 43% since 2003.
The WHO put the decrease down to a series of measures brought in under the sport-loving president, Vladimir Putin, including restrictions on alcohol sales and the promotion of healthy lifestyles.
I drank to pretend my life was more interesting. Feeling slow or a little sad in the mornings was so normal I barely noticed it
Now what? I have given up alcohol for a month. That’s nothing special. Thousands of people do Dry July or Feb Fast or some random month. But it is a big thing. I hadn’t had 30 days off alcohol my entire adult life.
The reason I thought it was a good idea isn’t unique either. It’s boringly familiar. I’m middle aged and, after drinking modestly for decades, it had crept up. One glass of wine a night became two, and then three and – no point in skirting around the facts here – too often it was a bottle, sometimes more. Occasionally, if I was particularly anxious, I’d buy a bottle of wine during the day and drink the lot.
Passive smoking is treated as a serious hazard. So why have we been so slow to wake up to the dangers alcohol poses to those who live with – or have a devastating encounter with – a heavy drinker?
Helen Witty thought she had taught her children all about the dangers of drinking. She was raised with the knowledge that her great-grandfather’s alcoholism had led him to suicide. “It’s in the family,” her mother warned her. In a classic expression of the ripple effect of harmful drinking, Witty kept her own consumption modest. And she taught her two children to understand and to be careful of the long shadow cast by other people’s drinking.
But what none of the family had prepared for was the day when Helen Marie, Witty’s 16-year-old daughter, stood in the drive of their Florida home wearing her skates; she wanted to destress before a big school play. She flipped around, blew her mother a kiss and said she would be right back.
Workers outside of a pub in the City of London Oct. 18, 2017. A traditional pastime of lunch or after-work drinks with colleagues may be fading, part of a worldwide trend that is seeing a drop in the overall percentage of people who consume alcoholic beverages.
A new report from the RAND Corp. analyzed survey data from thousands of active-duty military members and found Marines are more likely to be heavy drinkers, use tobacco and engage in riskier sexual behavior than the sailors, soldiers and airmen of the other branches. RAND found that incidents of binge drinking and hazardous drinking among Marines were almost double what they were in the Air Force.
The "Dr. Phil" show denied claims made in an expose that the staff gave addicted guests drugs and booze before tapings of the show. "The STAT article does not fairly or accurately describe the methods of 'Dr. Phil,' the TV show, or its mission to educate millions of viewers about drug and alcohol addiction," a rep for the "Dr. Phil" show told Fox News in a statement Friday.
Last week, People For the Ethical Treatment of Animals criticized Oregon Health and Science University for a "stupid and bizarre" experiment involving prairie voles. The experiment was meant to test the effects of alcohol on monogamous relationships.
Gov. Mark Dayton and Lieutenant Governor Tina Smith, left, enter the room in the Capitol where Dayton proposed a $45.8 billion two-year budget Tuesday morning, unveiling the proposal in person despite collapsing during Monday evening's State of the State address, at the State Capitol in St. Paul, January 24, 2017. Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton has said he's struggled with alcoholism and depression in the past, but he says neither is an issue now as he faces health concerns.
When he takes his oath of office on January 20, Donald Trump will likely be the first president in 24 years to have never used any form of illegal drug. Trump has long claimed that he has never once smoked cigarettes, touched alcohol or used drugs, which would distinguish him from the last three men to occupy the White House, all of whom either admitted to drug use or refused to deny it.
In what may be his last significant act as President Barack Obama's surgeon general, Dr. Vivek Murthy released a report Thursday calling for a major cultural shift in the way Americans view drug and alcohol addiction. The report, "Facing Addiction in America," details the toll addiction takes on the nation _ 78 people die each day from an opioid overdose; 20 million have a substance use disorder _ and explains how brain science offers hope for recovery.
You don't have to search far on the internet to find budget games that let you try your hand at setting the nation on a sustainable fiscal course. The underlying message is always the same - it ain't easy, especially if you are a rigid political ideologue.
Asked about the Kristallnacht comparison the former Massachusetts made when talking about Trump's proposal to deport an estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants from the country, the Republican candidate responded in true Trump form. "I don't talk about his alcoholism, so why would he talk about my foolishly perceived fascism?" Trump told The New York Times through a spokeswoman.