We Restore Hope -

I was so in the present moment the past was no longer part of me. ~Laurel Hoodwrit

Driving while impaired contributes significantly to car accidents, and is involved in more than one-third of all deaths. Many DWI recidivists – drinking drivers who re-offend – do not participated in court mandated alcohol-evaluation and intervention programs or continue to drink problematically after their licenses have been reissued. A comparison of the effects of two interventions on DWI recidivists with alcohol problems found that one – Brief Motivational Interviewing (BMI) – was more effective.

“Traffic crashes contribute more to morbidity in teenagers and young adults than any other cause, and DWI contribute to about a third of the overall toll,” said Thomas G. Brown, assistant professor in the department of psychiatry and the principal investigator for the study.

“In dollar terms on a yearly basis, the total estimated loss due to DWI is estimated at five percent of the gross national product of Canada. This is a staggering figure, associated with a huge amount of personal suffering and loss, and is all the more tragic given that DWI is preventable.

We never really grow up, we only learn how to act in public. ~Bryan White

According to the Los Angeles Times, physicians, nurses, dentists and other professionals in California with addictions will now be subject to more drug tests. Any restrictions to their licenses will be listed on public websites. The state of California will impose tough new standards on drug-abusing health professionals, strictly monitoring those in treatment and immediately removing from practice anyone who relapses. The new rules will require health professionals in state-run recovery programs to take at least 104 drug tests in their first year – more than double any current requirement. After a single positive result, these workers will be automatically pulled from practice temporarily.

If you count all your assets, you always show a profit. ~Robert Quillen

Unrealistic optimism about drinking behavior can lead to later alcohol-related problems, according to research published in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.

Researchers interviewed 800 college students several times over two years about whether their drinking resulted in hangovers, memory loss or trouble with police. They found that those who believed that they had a smaller chance than other students of having a drinking problem were actually the ones most likely to later experience problems.

Some research has suggested that unrealistic optimism is beneficial because it motivates people to take care of their health. The data in the study suggests the opposite.

“This is the first study to demonstrate unrealistic optimism at the individual level, in college student drinkers, about the likelihood of experiencing future problems with alcohol,” wrote the study authors.

A man can stand a lot as long as he can stand himself. ~Axel Munthe

The first ever large-scale study of ketamine users has been published online in the journal Addiction. With Ketamine (K, Special K) use increasing faster than any other drug in the UK, this research shows the consequences of repeated ketamine use.

For the study, researchers from University College London followed 150 people over a year to see if changes in their ketamine use could predict changes in their psychological health, memory and concentration.

Of the 150 people, 30 were taking large quantities of the drug nearly every day, 30 were taking it ‘recreationally’ (once or twice a month), 30 were former users, 30 used illicit drugs apart from ketamine and 30 did not use any illicit drugs.

The authors of the study found that the heavy ketamine users were impaired on several measures, including verbal memory, short-term memory and visual memory decreased over the year as ketamine use increased. These people also performed worse on verbal memory, having difficulty remembering conversations and people’s names.

By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail. ~Benjamin Franklin

A new study in the Journal of American College Health finds that students in co-ed housing are two and a half times more likely to binge drink each week than students in single sex housing.

More than 500 students from five college campuses participated in the study.

Forty two percent of students in co-ed housing reported binge drinking on a weekly basis. Eighteen percent of students in gender-specific housing reported binge drinking once a week.

“In a time when college administrators and counselors pay a lot of attention to alcohol-related problems on their campuses, this is a call to more fully examine the influence of housing environment on student behavior,” said study co-author Jason Carroll.

The Lord gives us friends to push us to our potential – and enemies to push us beyond it. ~Robert Brault

Alcoholism is an addiction that is poorly understood in Japan. As liquor consumption grew sixfold over the last 50 years in Japan to match its economic affluence, alcoholism became a growing but misunderstood problem.

Alcoholic beverages are easily available at convenience stores and vending machines. Liquor ads are prevalent on television and drinking with work colleagues is common.

Katsuya Maruyama of Kurihama Alcoholism Center, a leading hospital for treating alcohol dependency, said Japan is too tolerant with drinking. This attitude makes it tough for society and alcoholics to recognize the problem.

“There is no proper teaching on how alcohol can be dangerous, so no one knows alcoholism as a disease,” he said.

The economic loss from drinking problems in Japan is more than 6.6 trillion yen ($73 billion) a year, according to data from Tokyo Medical and Dental University. About 800,000 people are estimated to be alcoholics in Japan. While that number is less than that of the United States or Europe, it is rising as more women and elderly become alcoholics.

Learn all you can from the mistakes of others. You won’t have time to make them all yourself. ~Alfred Sheinwold

At the Faculty of Public Health conference in Scotland, the call was made to the Scottish and UK governments to introduce new measures to curb binge drinking, anti-social behavior and to tackle Scotland’s increasing alcohol-related health problems.

Scotland has one of the fastest growing chronic liver disease rates in the world, and one in three divorces is linked to alcohol problems. Sixty five thousand children are estimated to be living with parents with alcohol problems.

Dr. Emilia Crighton said “one in 20 deaths in Scotland is attributable to alcohol. There is an overwhelming case that cheap drink damages Scotland’s health record. As prices have dropped, consumption has risen.”

God grant me the serenity to accept the people I cannot change, the courage to change the one I can, and the wisdom to know it’s me. ~Author Unknown

Millions of people across the United Kingdom could be putting themselves at risk of alcohol-related violence, casual sex or blackouts, according to a new survey.

Sixty-one percent of people questioned had been adversely affected following a night’s heavy drinking. The most common occurence was not being able to remember what had happened the night before/

The research shows that alcohol can negatively affect behavior in many ways.

“There is no doubt that alcohol is a harmful drug,” said Dr. Mark Collins, who led the research. “It damages both mental and physical health, creates problems for society and is the cause of violence. It is becoming increasingly apparent that drastic measures need to be taken to address these problems.”

An eye for eye only ends up making the whole world blind. ~Mahatma Gandhi

Enhancing the effects of dopamine, a chemical in the brain, influences how people make life choices by affecting expectations of pleasure, according to new research from the UCL Institute of Neurology.

The study, published in Current Biology, confirms an important role for dopamine in how human expectations are formed and how people make complex decisions. It also contributes to an understanding of how pleasure expectations can go wrong, for example in drug addiction.

Dopamine is a neurotransmitter produced in several areas of the brain that is found in a wide variety of animals. Its role in reward learning and reward-seeking behavior is well established by animal research, though its role in humans is much less understood.

Don’t bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself. ~William Faulkner

New research has exposed the risks and dangers of alcoholic energy drinks (AEDs). There has been a continuing effort from state attorneys to ban the drinks. On Nov. 13 the FDA asked 30 manufacturers of AEDs to provide safety data related to adding caffeine and other stimulants to their products.

The research from Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center found that college students who reported consuming alcohol mixed with energy drinks had significantly higher prevalence of alcohol-related consequences, such as sexual assault and injury.