Alcohol Abuse

MOSCOW - Alcohol abuse has devastated Russia, with drinking causing more than half of deaths among Russians aged 15 to 54 in the turbulent era following the Soviet collapse, a team of public health researchers say. The 52 percent figure compares with estimates that less than 4 percent of deaths worldwide are caused by alcohol abuse, according to the study by Russian, British, and French researchers published in today’s edition of the British medical...

In honor of April's status as Alcohol Awareness Month, this week's crop of sites for kids, teens and the grownups that love them focus on the dangers of underage drinking and alcohol abuse. Above the Influence: Alcohol www.abovetheinfluence.com/facts/drugsalcohol "Our goal is to help you stay above the influence. The more aware you are of the influences around you, the better prepared you will be to stand up to the pressures that keep you down. " Created by the Office of National Drug Control Policy, this site has facts about all kinds of drugs, from alcohol to tobacco.

WASHINGTON -- Alcohol abuse is up in America -- sharply for most groups -- a government study said yesterday. At the same time, however, alcoholism is down. Some 4.65 percent of the adult population reported alcohol abuse in 2001-2002, up from 3.03 percent a decade earlier, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism reported. During the same period, the share of the population who were judged to be alcoholics slipped from 4.38 percent to 3.81 percent of people aged 18 and over, the institute said.

Carol Shwidock believes in fate. If not for serendipity, she says, she wouldn't have been a match to donate a portion of her liver to her husband. When Brad needed a new liver four years ago, Carol didn't get tested. They agreed that their daughters, Samara, now 22, and Zoe, now 18, were too young for both parents to risk such invasive surgery. Taking comfort in a long-term success rate of 80 percent, Brad accepted a liver from an organ donor who died at 65. It could be because that liver wasn't in top condition, or because his disease is particularly resilient.

In honor of April's status as Alcohol Awareness Month, this week's crop of sites for kids, teens and the grownups that love them focus on the dangers of underage drinking and alcohol abuse. Above the Influence: Alcohol www.abovetheinfluence.com/facts/drugsalcohol "Our goal is to help you stay above the influence. The more aware you are of the influences around you, the better prepared you will be to stand up to the pressures that keep you down. " Created by the Office of National Drug Control Policy, this site has facts about all kinds of drugs, from alcohol to tobacco.

CHICOPEE -- It was a relationship marred by violence and alcohol. But even after his boyfriend pleaded guilty to beating him up twice, Lawrence Godin stayed in the Chicopee apartment that he and Fernando Ribeiro shared for a decade. He insisted that Ribeiro get treatment for his alcohol abuse, and last month a judge ordered him to do so after putting him on probation for hitting Godin. Now, Ribeiro, 45, is charged with murdering Godin and burying his bludgeoned body in the basement.

Carol Shwidock believes in fate. If not for serendipity, she says, she wouldn't have been a match to donate a portion of her liver to her husband. When Brad needed a new liver four years ago, Carol didn't get tested. They agreed that their daughters, Samara, now 22, and Zoe, now 18, were too young for both parents to risk such invasive surgery. Taking comfort in a long-term success rate of 80 percent, Brad accepted a liver from an organ donor who died at 65. It could be because that liver wasn't in top condition, or because his disease is particularly resilient.

No, although it is less likely to give you headaches and hangovers. Alcoholic beverages are divided into three categories: beers, wines, and spirits. Beer and wine are made by fermentation of plant material that contains sugar or starch, while spirits (vodka, gin, scotch, etc.) are made by fermentation followed by distillation, that is, boiling, followed by condensation. Beer is typically 4 percent to 6 percent alcohol by volume; wine, 9 percent to 16 percent; and spirits, at least 20 percent.

The girls slumped in wheelchairs look barely conscious, their blond heads lolling above the plastic vomit bags tied like bibs around their necks. It's an hour to midnight on Friday, and the two girls, who look no older than 18, are being wheeled from an ambulance to a clinic set up discreetly in a dark alley in London's Soho entertainment district. They're the first of many to be picked up on this night by the ambulance, known as a "booze bus," and carried to the clinic — both government services dedicated to keeping drunk people out of trouble, and out of emergency rooms.

Though the Allman Brothers Band has been part of rock royalty and pop culture for more than 40 years, the Gregg Allman dossier isn't particularly overstuffed. Allman has been far more restrained than other musicians of his caliber when it comes to hogging media, which makes his memoir, "My Cross to Bear," a riveting read. Unlike Keith Richards who used his book "Life" to reinforce the persona we have come to appreciate, Allman gives a seemingly honest appraisal of an extraordinary life led by a guy who, by all appearances, would have happily settled for normal; Allman...

MOSCOW - Alcohol abuse has devastated Russia, with drinking causing more than half of deaths among Russians aged 15 to 54 in the turbulent era following the Soviet collapse, a team of public health researchers say. The 52 percent figure compares with estimates that less than 4 percent of deaths worldwide are caused by alcohol abuse, according to the study by Russian, British, and French researchers published in today’s edition of the British medical...

CHICOPEE -- It was a relationship marred by violence and alcohol. But even after his boyfriend pleaded guilty to beating him up twice, Lawrence Godin stayed in the Chicopee apartment that he and Fernando Ribeiro shared for a decade. He insisted that Ribeiro get treatment for his alcohol abuse, and last month a judge ordered him to do so after putting him on probation for hitting Godin. Now, Ribeiro, 45, is charged with murdering Godin and burying his bludgeoned body in the basement.

WASHINGTON -- Alcohol abuse is up in America -- sharply for most groups -- a government study said yesterday. At the same time, however, alcoholism is down. Some 4.65 percent of the adult population reported alcohol abuse in 2001-2002, up from 3.03 percent a decade earlier, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism reported. During the same period, the share of the population who were judged to be alcoholics slipped from 4.38 percent to 3.81 percent of people aged 18 and over, the institute said.

A question that has vexed college administrators since John Belushi shambled on screen in "Animal House" - what to do about heavy drinking by students - may have a new answer. A study of 30 campuses nationwide found that an online educational course that showed students in attention-grabbing detail the consequences of excessive drinking had significantly reduced common alcohol-related problems among freshmen, including binge drinking and sexual assault. The results, published in July in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, also showed that students who completed the program were less...

Two years ago, Donald Ahlgren faced a dilemma common among the legions of drug addicts just out of detoxification programs: He needed an affordable place to live that wouldn't reject him because of his past. To his surprise, he had his pick of places. These low-budget rooms were typically in apartment buildings or houses, and tucked in some of the most recession-plagued neighborhoods of Boston and nearby suburbs. Landlords advertised them as "sober homes," an informal term used for rentals marketed to recovering substance abusers.