LOCAL DRUGS OF CONCERN
NORTHWESTERN ONTARIO

ALCOHOL

YOU HAVE A DRINKING PROBLEM....if:

• You are unable to control your drinking and wind up drunk.
• You are using alcohol to escape your problems.
• You change from your usual reserved character into the "life of the party".
• Your personality changes from Dr. Jekyll to Mr. Hyde.
• You can drink everybody under the table.
• You don't remember what happened when you were drinking.
• You have problems at work or in school as a result of drinking.
• Your friends and family are concerned about your drinking.

BINGE DRINKING

Binge drinking is defined as "the consumption of five or more drinks in a row on at least one occasion." In a US national survey about a third of high school and 42 percent of college students reported at least one occasion of binge drinking within the previous 2 weeks.

A recent survey conducted of youth in Ontario from Grades 7 to OAC indicated that 67.5% had consumed alcohol in the last year. Northern Ontario has the highest rate with 77.6%. Of those figures 19.7% of those surveyed consumed weekly.

Binge drinking increases the risk for alcohol-related injury, especially for young people, who often combine alcohol with other high-risk activities, such as impaired driving. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the four leading injury-related causes of death among youths under the age of 20 are motor vehicle crashes, homicides, suicides, and drowning. Alcohol is involved in many of these deaths.

Sexual encounters with their inherent risks of pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, and HIV exposure, as well as date rape and other violence, can and do occur more frequently while students are consuming large amounts of alcohol by binge drinking.

Binge drinking, or the partying lifestyle of young people, may be related to an environment that appears to support heavy drinking. Youths report that alcohol is more easily available to them today than it was 5 years ago, and there is a high correlation between availability and use. In addition, alcoholic beverages remain inexpensive in comparison with other beverages, especially beer when purchased in kegs, often the center of a party.

As young people enter the culture of the college campus, they are confronted with many challenges and opportunities: the opportunity to be independent of parental control; the need to conform; and the insecurity of a new social setting. Forty-one percent of college students engage in binge drinking, as compared to 34 percent of their non-college counterparts.

Prevention strategies in response to binge drinking by young people include actions to reduce alcohol availability, such as increases in price, and responsible beverage service practices, especially at parties. Other strategies include restrictions on marketing and promotion practices that glamorize heavy drinking, especially those directed at young people.

BLOOD ALCOHOL CONCENTRATION

Blood alcohol concentration (BAC) is the amount of alcohol in the bloodstream. It is measured in percentages. For instance, having a BAC of 0.10 percent means that a person has 1 part alcohol per 1,000 parts blood in the body.

In a review of studies of alcohol-related crashes, reaction time, tracking ability, concentrated attention ability, divided attention performance, information process capability, visual functions, perceptions, and psycho-motor performance, impairment in all these areas was significant at blood alcohol concentrations of 0.05 percent. In the Northwest Region approximately half of traffic injuries involve alcohol. For non-fatal unintentional injuries many studies show that 25 to 50 percent involve alcohol. The same rates are found for a wide range of non-fatal intentional injuries involving alcohol, including assaults, spouse abuse, child molestation, sexual assault, rape, and attempted suicide.

Breath, blood, or urine tests can measure BAC. BAC measurement is especially important for determining the role of alcohol in crashes, falls, fires, crime, family violence, suicide, and other forms of intentional and unintentional injury. Information on BAC:

1. provides a baseline for evaluating prevention and intervention programs;
2. supplies data needed for planning and providing direct services; and
3. improves estimates of the economic costs of alcohol use.

Return to Drug Education

For further information contact:

TRI-FORCE / KENORA JOINT FORCES DRUG UNIT
Tel: (807) 475-0198
Fax: (807) 475-0328
E-mail: info@tri-forcedrugs.com

It should be noted that if you wish to provide information on drug trafficking issues –
e-mail can be traced.
We would request it remain anonymous – please contact:

Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477