Review Of The National Alcohol Strategy 2000 2003

This document looks at a range of strategies that focus on alcohol related problems, and ways to present or reduced, the impact on suicidal, family/than, the community and New Zealand society.

"The National Alcohol Strategy" and its companion document "Alcohol in Australia: issues and strategies" were endorsed by the Ministerial Council on Drug Strategy in July 2001. The documents were prepared for the Intergovernmental Committee on Drugs by members of the National Expert Advisory Committee on Alcohol (NEACA) with the assistance from the NEACA project officer and secretariat. The Australian National Council on Drugs and a broads range of key stakeholders contributed to the drafting of the documents."--Title page verso.

The Australian Guidelines for the Treatment of Alcohol Problems have been periodically developed over the past 25 years. In 1993, the first version of these guidelines, titled: ‘An outline for the management of alcohol problems: Quality assurance in the treatment of drug dependence project’ was published (Mattick & Jarvis 1993). The Australian Government commissioned an update a decade later (Shand et al. 2003) and a further edition in 2009 to integrate the Guidelines with the Australian Guidelines to Reduce Health Risks from Drinking Alcohol (National Health and Medical Research Council, NHMRC 2009; Haber et al., 2009). The present version of the Guidelines was also commissioned by the Commonwealth of Australia to remain current and integrated with the updated NHMRC consumption guidelines (2020). In order to ensure that guidelines remain relevant, the next set of guidelines should be updated in 2025, consistent with NHMRC recommendation that guidelines be updated every five years. These guidelines aim to provide up-to-date, evidence-based information to clinicians on available treatments for people with alcohol problems and are largely directed towards individual clinicians in practice, such as primary care physicians (general practitioners, nursing staff), specialist medical practitioners, psychologists and other counsellors, and other health professionals. Some chapters highlight service or system level issues that impact on clinicians and their patients. These include recommendations concerning Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, culturally and linguistically diverse groups, stigma, and discrimination. Elsewhere, organisation capacity is implied, such as medical resources for withdrawal management where recommendations indicate use of medications. As all forms of treatment will not be readily available or suitable for all populations or settings, these guidelines may require interpretation and adaptation.

Alcohol use by young people is extremely dangerous - both to themselves and society at large. Underage alcohol use is associated with traffic fatalities, violence, unsafe sex, suicide, educational failure, and other problem behaviors that diminish the prospects of future success, as well as health risks â€" and the earlier teens start drinking, the greater the danger. Despite these serious concerns, the media continues to make drinking look attractive to youth, and it remains possible and even easy for teenagers to get access to alcohol. Why is this dangerous behavior so pervasive? What can be done to prevent it? What will work and who is responsible for making sure it happens? Reducing Underage Drinking addresses these questions and proposes a new way to combat underage alcohol use. It explores the ways in which may different individuals and groups contribute to the problem and how they can be enlisted to prevent it. Reducing Underage Drinking will serve as both a game plan and a call to arms for anyone with an investment in youth health and safety.

Public and Environmental Health Law is a successor to Public Health Law and Regulation 2nd edition and offers a critical and up to date assessment of the legislation, cases and policies that impact on public health practice in Australia and New Zealand. As with earlier editions, this book outlines and discusses laws in a range of important areas including environmental health, food safety, communicable disease, obesity, tobacco and alcohol, the human health impacts of pollution control and planning law. Particular focus is given to new directions in public and environmental health law including the risk based approaches reflected in recent legislation and statutory duties to protect public health. New issues are also raised and discussed, including sustainability, the challenges of climate change, preparedness for pandemics and other public health emergencies and health impact assessment. Introductory chapters set public and environmental health law in the context of the wider legal system and discuss issues such as its constitutional structure, international trends and obligations, rights questions including natural justice and the proper exercise of statutory power by officers. The principles of legislation and its interpretation and the laws of evidence, with a particular focus on the use of epidemiological data as evidence, are also examined. Public and Environmental Health Lawis designed for students of environmental health and public health, for environmental health officers, medical officers and others working in the field and for all persons interested in the potential for law and legislation to further the practice of public health. It is written in a way that highlights the potential for law to act strategically, as a tool for improving public health outcomes, is extensively referenced to statutes and cases and is accompanied by a detailed bibliography.

This strategy signals a radical change in the approach to irresponsible drinking and resultant criminal and anti-social behaviour and the increasing health problems created by the current levels of alcohol consumption. In 2012-11 there were nearly 1 million alcohol-related violent crimes and 1.2 million alcohol-related hospital admissions. The problem has developed because cheap alcohol is too readily available; increasing numbers of people drink at home before going on a night out ("pre-loading"); the Licensing Act failed to deliver a cafâ culture; too many places cater for people who drink to get drunk regardless of the consequences for themselves or others; and individuals who cause the problems have not been challenged enough over their behaviour. The availability of cheap alcohol will be curtailed through the introduction of a minimum unit price for alcohol. The exact level is to be agreed, but if it was 40p, it is estimated there would be 50,000 fewer crimes each year and 900 fewer alcohol-related deaths by the end of the decade. Consultations will also aim to end multi-buy promotions. Local areas and agencies will be given powers to challenge people's behaviour and make it easier to take action against, and even close down, problem premises. Other measures include early morning restriction orders and a late night levy so that businesses open late contribute to the costs of policing. The drinks industry has a crucial role to play in changing the drinking culture towards positive socialising. And the risks of excessive consumption will be widely circulated.

Alcohol has been central to social, religious and personal use throughout the history. Alcohol drinking goes back almost as far as the human race does. A hundred years, therefore, may be seen as only a flash. The past century, however, has witnessed a fundamental change in dealing with alcohol problems. Hence, to give an overview of a hundred years of alcohol polices is a rather ambitious task and the contributions to this book shed only some light on the way in which alcohol policy issues have changed in this period. This authoritative volume is relevant to both scientists and policy makers providing a state of the art in alcohol policy from different perspectives, covering both science/research/treatment and prevention practice and linking these areas.

Contributors include Susan Bondy (Toronto), Andrée Demers (Montréal), Madelyn Fournier (consultant, Montreal), Norman Giesbrecht (Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, CAMH), Lynn Kavanagh (Mt Sinai Hospital, Toronto), Evert Lindquist (Victoria), Bronwyn MacKenzie (CAMH), Alan Ogborne (consultant), Robin Room (Stockholm), and Gina Stoduto (CAMH).