Temporal alcohol availability predicts first-time drunk driving, but not repeat offending

Light and heavy drinking in jurisdictions with different alcohol policy environments

BACKGROUND

A basic, yet untested tenet underlying alcohol control policies is that they should affect both light and heavy drinking, thereby shifting the entire population in a favourable direction. The aim of this study was to test this assumption in young Swiss men.

METHODS

Cross-sectional self-reported data - from 5755 young Swiss men participating in the Cohort Study on Substance Use Risk Factors (C-SURF), a large cohort study on young men living within 21 jurisdictions across Switzerland - were analysed via nested logistic regression. With this approach, a set of increasingly-heavy drinking patterns was broken down into a set of nested regression models, each one estimating the probability of heavier drinking, conditional on the lighter drinking pattern. Drinking patterns relating to heavy episodic drinking (HED), heavy volume drinking (HVD) on weekends, and workweek drinking, as well as alcohol use disorder (AUD) were examined. The explanatory variable was a previously-used alcohol policy environment index (APEI) reflecting the number of alcohol control policies implemented in each jurisdiction. Conventional and multilevel logistic regression models were tested, adjusted for age, education, linguistic region, urban/rural status, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, depression, sensation seeking, antisocial personality disorder, and unobserved heterogeneity between jurisdictions.

RESULTS

For HED, weekend HVD, and AUD, negative relationships with the APEI were found, such that with a higher APEI the probability of lighter drinking patterns was increased while the probability of heavier patterns was reduced, including a reduced probability of the heaviest patterns. These relationships were non-linear, however, and tapered off towards the heavy end of the drinking spectrum. No relationship was identified between the APEI and workweek drinking patterns.

CONCLUSION

Among young Swiss men, stricter alcohol policy environments were associated with a global shift towards lighter drinking, consistent with the basic tenet behind the universal prevention approach.

The underestimated drink driving situation and the effects of zero tolerance laws in China

BACKGROUND

China has a competing situation in that the increase of alcohol consumption and the lowering rates of traffic injuries caused by drink driving coexist. In addition, the zero tolerance law was announced in January 2013. Under the above complex background, this study aims to unveil the truth about drink driving and the effects of the related policies in China.

METHODS

This research was a retrospective examination of the data from the National Disease Surveillance System in Shandong Province of China from 2011 to 2013. Descriptive statistics were used to find the summary of mortality caused by drink driving and the traits of the deceased subjects.

RESULTS

The drink driving situation in China was found to be much more alarming than the initial official prediction. In this research, the rate should be around 18.45% to 26.61%, compared to only 4.02% to 4.80% from the Ministry of Public Security. However, with the introduction of the zero tolerance law at the beginning of 2013, a significant change was observed; that is, a sharp decrease in traffic fatalities caused by drink driving between 2012 and 2013, with a drop of 6.81% (from 25.26% to 18.45%). According to the data, more attention should be paid to young adults, male drivers, those with low education, and the unemployed because the drink driving deaths increased for these populations during 2011 to 2013.

CONCLUSION

In reality, the drink driving situation in China is much more serious than official prediction and the laws were efficient.

Alcohol and the law

Society has had an interest in controlling the production, distribution, and use of alcohol for millennia. The use of alcohol has always had consequences, be they positive or negative, and the role of government in the regulation of alcohol is now universal. This is accomplished at several levels, first through controls on production, importation, distribution, and use of alcoholic beverages, and second, through criminal laws, the aim of which is to address the behavior of users themselves. A number of interventions and policies reduce alcohol-related consequences to society by regulating alcohol pricing, targeting alcohol-impaired driving, and limiting alcohol availability. The legal system defines criminal responsibility in the context of alcohol use, as an enormous percentage of violent crime and motor death is associated with alcohol intoxication. In recent years, recovery-oriented policies have aimed to expand social supports for recovery and to improve access to treatment for substance use disorders within the criminal justice system. The Affordable Care Act, also know as "ObamaCare," made substantial changes to access to substance abuse treatment by mandating that health insurance include services for substance use disorders comparable to coverage for medical and surgical treatments. Rather than a simplified "war on drugs" approach, there appears to be an increasing emphasis on evidence-based policy development that approaches alcohol use disorders with hope for treatment and prevention. This chapter focuses on alcohol and the law in the United States.