Adult Binge Drinkers Prefer Beer; Teens Hard Liquor

Binge-drinking is an increasing problem across a spectrum of age groups but two sobering analyses reveal that adults have a preference for beer binges while teens tend to swill the harder spirits.Training a spotlight on alcoholic drinking habits is vital, experts said Tuesday, because bingeing has become a national public health problem.

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Naked Man Eaten By Bears at Beer Festival

A 23-year old Serb was found dead and half-eaten in the bear cage of Belgrade Zoo at the weekend during the annual beer festival.

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Ark. Court Rejects Narcotics Anonymous Because of Focus on God

Mindy Gayle Offutt's first court-ordered Narcotics Anonymous meeting was also her last. The meeting began with a prayer and ended with one, as meetings often do, but the religious undertones of the gathering made her uncomfortable.
Five days later, on Dec. 7, 2006, Offutt filed suit in U.S. District Court in Fayetteville, Ark., against the judge who sentenced her to the meetings for a misdemeanor drug possession offense. In the suit, Offutt's claimed Narcotics Anonymous amounts to religion and she should not be forced by a government official to participate in religious activity.

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Parole for Man Jailed After Rape Apology

A man who confessed to raping a woman as he apologized two decades later as part of the Alcoholics Anonymous program is scheduled to be released from jail after serving six months of an 18-month sentence, officials said Wednesday.
William Beebe, 42, pleaded guilty in November to one count of aggravated sexual battery for his attack on Liz Seccuro while at the University of Virginia. In March, a judge ordered a 10-year prison sentence with all but 18 months suspended.

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Underage Drinking & Hand Sanitizer: The New Booze?

A new study finds underage drinking is at an all time high in July...with a report of 50% of 15-year-olds claiming to have consumed alcohol. About one third of teen drinking happens during the summer months...its alarming numbers that has law enforcement working to keep kids away from alcohol.
The average age for kids to first try alcohol is 11-years-old for boys and 13-years-old for girls. It may sound shocking, but Jonesboro D.A.R.E. Officer Greg Lawson says he's heard it all.

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46 South Dakota Counties Join Sobriety Project

More than two-thirds of South Dakota counties have embraced an initiative by Attorney General Larry Long to keep chronic drunken drivers off the road.
If ordered by judges, repeat drunken drivers in those counties must report to sheriffs' offices twice a day for breath testing or other means of detecting alcohol consumption.People are taken immediately to jail if tests show that they've been drinking alcohol. Those who miss appointments are tracked down and locked up.The effort began two years ago as a pilot project in 14 counties. It worked so well that Long persuaded this year's Legislature to expand it statewide. The law went into effect July 1, and 46 of the state's 66 counties are now signed up.

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Intravenious Treatment Promising for Alcohol & Drug Addictions

New research into an obscure brain cell receptor found in the human brain has lead to a treatment that has been generating greater than 80% success for the past 12 months at a medical center in Denver, Colorado.These brain cell receptors are a subclass of the super family of receptors called G-protein coupled receptors, which are made from amino acids."The specific receptor in question which is damaged in addiction is made up of 466 amino acids and found on the surface of only one in a million brain cells." Commented Tamea Sisco a certified addictionologist and scientific advisor to Excel, "this lead us to the so called 'Ah Ha!' moment."If we were to administer the correct peptides and amino acids, in the correct proportion, to repair this receptor, would we be able to control addiction cravings?

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Study: Most Prisoners Have Addiction Problems

The initial results of a broad survey of prisoners' health indicate that more than 80 percent of people imprisoned because they defaulted on fines have addiction problems. At least half of these have drug problems. The Prison Service says that half of all prisoners test positive for Hepatitis C, which is common on intravenous drug users.Many prisoners also have mental health problems, which are often linked to their use of intoxicants, the researchers say.

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Treatment Improves, But Availibility Doesn't

The good news about treatment for heroin and opiate addiction is that there are new drugs to help the user and better understanding of addiction than ever before, said Dr. Allan Ebert, a Flint doctor and expert on substance abuse treatment.
The bad news is that those who want treatment but who don't have private health insurance or who are uninsured face waiting lists or shortened stays in programs, given the lack of funding by the state Legislature, officials say. Payments for heroin users who receive methadone were also cut in the spring.

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