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Is Alcohol a factor in social problems?
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Alcohol is a leading factor in 68 percent
of manslaughters, 62 percent of assaults, 54 percent of murders and attempted
murders, 48 percent of robberies and 44 percent of burglaries.
Two-thirds of child abuse cases are alcohol-related as are 72 percent
of rape cases. Booze is a factor in all drinking driving arrests and leads
to all the injuries and deaths associated with them.
Alcohol is the leading cause of death for 16 year olds.
INDEX TO NEWSPAPER ARTICLES
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CRIME
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[1]
[2][3][4]
[10][11]
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HEALTH
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[5][6][7]
[12][13]
[8][9]
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RAPE
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[1][3][4]
[11][14]
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CHILDREN & TEENS
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[3][11]
1. A Sobering Approach to Crime-Fighting
LOS ANGELES TIMES, May 12, 1994
Pasadena officials have had enough. The police there can't keep up with crime
though it's already reached critical levels.
It is time to take action, officials say. The city is at the forefront
of a nationwide battle with the alcohol industry. It is taking the much-ignored,
much-denied correlation between alcohol and crime and putting it on the table
for discussion.
The city can't afford to ignore the correlation anymore. It's too
clear, too evident and too devastating. The bare facts of the correlation
were recently displayed in a study by Day One, a local substance abuse group,
and Pasadena police.
The study looked at crime during two two-week periods in 1990-`91
and 1993. It found a strong correlation between crime and alcohol. The study
showed that half of all arrests in the city involved alcohol, with 100 percent
of homicide arrests involving alcohol.
Sixty percent of rape cases and more than half of all domestic assaults
involved alcohol. The statistics don't account for police time spent on
alcohol-related incidents that don't result in arrests.
Angela Goldberg of Day One said that alcohol is a factor in many
social problems. She said alcohol policy is a tool to address the problems
in a real way.
The Day One organization spearheaded the city's liquor initiative.
The initiative would give the city more control over liquor outlets under
a proposed nuisance abatement ordinance.
Normally, the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control regulates
alcohol outlets, but the city hopes to extend its control under the nuisance
abatement ordinance. It would allow the city to close problem stores and
set zoning limits on the number bars and alcohol outlets in a given
area.
The city has to be careful in wording the ordinance. A similar one
in Oakland failed. That ordinance, though, attempted to fine stores that
overworked police authorities. The proposed Pasadena ordinance would not.
It is modeled after a Los Angeles ordinance that already survived one legal
battle.
SOURCE: "A Sobering Approach to Crime-Fighting," Joe Donnelly, LOS
ANGELES TIMES, May 12, 1994
2. "Controlling drinking will help control crime
and violence,"
THE CALIFORNIAN, Jan. 25, 1994, P.6A
The editorial board of THE CALIFORNIAN in Salinas, Calif. is taking a stand
for drinking in moderation.
The board noted the correlation between alcohol consumption and
crime in a Jan. 25 editorial. It attributed the recent epidemic of violence
in the city, in part, to people's drinking habits.
Three people died and several were wounded in Salinas on Halloween
in a gang-related shooting spree. It occurred in the wake of a party, where
alcohol was presumed to have been served.
City officials must now consider whether to grant a permit for beer
sales to a new store owner at North Sanborn Road and Del Monte Avenue, an
area already beset by violence.
THE CALIFORNIAN commended the owner of the store for responding
to community concern about drinking. The owner proposes education training
for sales clerks, a ban on single can sales and banning loitering around
the store.
The editorial board also takes the position, however, that the safety
of the community should come before business concerns. Alcohol and crime
are bad for the community overall.
SOURCE: "Controlling drinking will help control crime and violence,"
THE CALIFORNIAN, Jan. 25, 1994, P.6A
3. "Why are Pasadena teen-agers drinking so much?"
PASADENA STAR NEWS, May 4, 1993
A column by Fran Newman in the Pasadena(Ca) Star News makes these points
about teens and alcohol:
SOURCE: "Why are Pasadena teen-agers drinking so much?" Fran Neumann,
PASADENA STAR NEWS, May 4, 1993
4. College Women Binge Drinking Date:
6/10/94
The report by the National Commission on Substance Abuse at Colleges and
Universities, conducted by the Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, concludes
that female binge drinking has tripled since the mid-'70s and that drinking
to get drunk is the biggest substance abuse problem on college
campuses.
The report also said that alcohol is involved in most major campus
problems, including rape, AIDS, violent crimes and academic problems. The
commission calls on colleges to alter the alcohol culture by banning alcohol
advertising, restricting alcohol availability at campus activities and expanding
treatment and prevention services.
5. Russian Drinking Culture
Reuters March 9
A "macho drinking culture" is killing thousands of Russian men each year,
Reuters reported March 9.
Overconsumption of vodka and sometimes poisonous home-brews have
increased sharply after the collapse of a mid-1980s attempt by the government
to curb alcohol consumption, the British Medical Journal reported.
The Russian death rate increased dramatically between 1987 to 1992,
with prominent increases in deaths from poisoning and trauma. Researchers
believe both of these increases are related to alcohol
consumption.
6. Alcoholism and Early Death
October 27 1995
Alcoholism can cut your lifespan by as many as 20 years, UPI reported Oct.27
1995.
Researchers from Washington University in St. Louis followed a group
of 259 men and women over a 20-year period and found that periods of heavy
drinking caused many people who were treated for alcoholism to die in their
50s instead of living a normal span of 70 years or more. Nearly half of the
women and 60 percent of the men who were treated in their 30s or 40s during
the late 1960s had died by the time researchers followed up on the group
20 years later.
The average age of death for study participants was 56.
Risk factors for men included cirrhosis of the liver and living
single, while binge drinking was a major risk factor for women. Reported
in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, the study
could have implications for the treatment of alcoholism, researcher Dr. Colins
Lewis said. "We can target the high-risk groups," Lewis said. "If an older,
divorced man with cirrhosis checks into the hospital for teatment, we know
that he is at very high risk for an early death, so we need to target him
for intensive therapy."
7. Economist Links Beer Price, Death Rate Date:
Journal of Research on Adolescence. July 1994
Economist Michael Goldman told a National Public Radio audience July 1 that
a 10-cent increase in the beer tax could save the lives of 350 teenagers
per year.
Goldman compared the beer tax, drinking rates and highway deaths
in the 50 states, concluding that beer consumption follows the laws of economics:
the higher the price of beer, the less young people drink. His report appears
in the July issue of the Journal of Research on Adolescence.
Another researcher, Philip Cook, found that teens who grew up in
states with high beer tax were more likely to graduate from college, NPR
reported.
Gary Gananas, a spokesman for the beer industry, called the conclusions
"way off base."
8. Alcohol-related crashes in Illinois reported
July 19 1995.
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) data show that 42.2
percent of the 1,554 highway deaths recorded in 1994 were
alcohol-related.
9. "Drunk Driving Booms In Eastern Germany," SAN
FRANCISCO CHRONICLE,
July 28, 1993
In the old East German state it was illegal to drive with any alcohol in
your blood. But in the unified Germany, the limit is 0.8 milliliters per
liter of blood. The loosening of restrictions in the east has led to an explosion
in the number of alcohol-related car crashes. Increasing numbers of German
legislators are calling for lowering the intoxication limit to 0.5 milliliter.
Some from E. Germany want to go back to zero.
SOURCE: "Drunk Driving Booms In Eastern Germany," SAN FRANCISCO
CHRONICLE, July 28, 1993, P.A12
10. Alcohol Plays Major Role in Crime
Prison Statistics May 20, 1993.
The federal Bureau of Prison Statistics released figures Wednesday showing
that 49% of prison inmates in the U.S. say they were under the influence
of alcohol, other drugs, or both when they committed the crime for which
they were imprisoned.
18% were under the influence of alcohol alone. 17% were under the
influence of other drugs alone. An additional 14% were under the influence
of both alcohol and other drugs.
Almost half of female inmates were physically or sexually abused
before entering state prisons. Alcohol and other drugs have also often played
a big role in the lives of incarcerated women.
24% of women inmates committed crimes for drug money, say
experts.
SOURCE: "Typical inmate: Abused, abuser, repeater," Mimi Hall, USA
TODAY, May 20, 1993, P.8A
11. Booze And Crime
USA TODAY, May 4, 1994
Let's talk about crime. Let's talk about alcohol. Now, let's talk about them
together.
They belong together, so it's high time we stop separating the issues,
says editor and co-owner Michael Gartner of the Ames, Iowa DAILY TRIBUNE
in a May 4 commentary.
Everyone talks about guns when they talk about crime but they overlook
booze, though it's right under their nose. Right in the cabinet actually,
next to the dinner crackers and napkins. It's an everyday household
item.
Gartner says that's why we overlook it when we talk about bad things
like crime. But he says it's time to face facts:
Alcohol is a leading factor in 68 percent of manslaughters, 62 percent
of assaults, 54 percent of murders and attempted murders, 48 percent of robberies
and 44 percent of burglaries.
Two-thirds of child abuse cases are alcohol-related as are 72 percent
of rape cases. Booze is a factor in all drinking driving arrests and leads
to all the injuries and deaths associated with them. Gartner's facts are
from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and the National
Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence.
Gartner is calling for a return of Prohibition. Even though it didn't
work in the `20s and even though people say it would cause massive bootlegging,
Gartner says Prohibition is necessary, because something must be done about
crime.
SOURCE: "Bring back Prohibition," Michael Gartner, USA TODAY, May
4, 1994, P.11A
12. "Bouts with negative moods said common,"
THE SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, November 5, 1993,
Booze can lead to blues if you're a man, according to a report by top health
officials, but no correlation was found between women and
drinking.
The study by the National Center for Health Statistics found that
the moodiest men were three times as likely to be heavy drinkers and that
they were not likely to be smokers.
"These findings suggest that emotional well-being may play a role
in cigarette smoking and heavy drinking," stated the report. The survey defined
heavy drinking as three drinks or more a day for men and two drinks or more
a day for women.
SOURCE: "Bouts with negative moods said common," Christopher Connell,
THE SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, November 5, 1993, P.A2
13. "Study links lousy moods to smoking and drinking,"
FLORENCE MORNING NEWS, November 5, 1993,
Almost 40 million American adults fall into negative moods according to
government health researchers. Those susceptible to foul moods were more
likely to be smokers and the moodiest men also tended to be heavy drinkers
according to Charlotte A. Schoenborn and John Horm of the National Center
for Health Statistics.
Some 43,782 adults were asked in a 1991 health survey if they felt
they had negative moods in the past two weeks. Overall, the survey showed
that 22.5 million women and 17 million men often experienced at least one
negative mood during the two weeks before being interviewed.
This research showed no relationship between negative moods and
heavy drinking for women. Lonely adults were 60 to 70 percent more likely
to smoke.
They defined heavy drinking as three or more drinks a day for men
and two or more for women.
SOURCE: "Study links lousy moods to smoking and drinking," Christopher
Connell, FLORENCE MORNING NEWS (Florence, South Carolina), November 5, 1993,
P.1A
14. Alcohol and Campus Rape,
The Boston Globe 8th May 1995
An alleged sexual assault by members of the University of Massachusetts hockey
team was typical in one sense: both the accused and the reported victim were
drinking at the time of the incident.
The Boston Globe reported May 8 that the circumstances of the attack
-- a female student reported being attacked by five hockey players after
an afternoon of drinking together -- fits a familiar pattern. Nationally,
studies show that 75 percent of sexual assailants and 55 percent of victims
of sex crimes on college campuses were under the influence of alcohol. Another
study said alcohol was involved in 90 percent of campus rapes.
Veronica Reed Ryback, director of the rape counseling center at
Beth Israel Hospital, said alcohol is used by men to break down women's
resistance to sex, while women who drink often lose the ability to realize
they are in danger. But Marianne Winters, executive director of the Massachusetts
Coalition of Rape Crisis Services, said that sexism -- not alcohol -- is
the underlying cause of rape.
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