Drug and alcohol review
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Drug and alcohol review · Jun 2012
The long-term effect of lockouts on alcohol-related emergency department attendances within Ballarat, Australia.
Alcohol has consistently been demonstrated to increase levels of aggression and violence, particularly in late night licensed venues. Since August 2003, Ballarat (a regional city of approximately 95,000 inhabitants, in Victoria, Australia) has implemented a 3:00 AM 'lockout' with the goal of reducing alcohol-related harms. This paper is the first long-term analysis of the effect of this type of intervention on emergency department (ED) attendances. The aim of this paper is to examine the effectiveness of a lockout intervention within the city of Ballarat, Victoria on alcohol-related ED presentations. ⋯ There is no discernible long-term impact on alcohol-related ED attendances of the lockout intervention in Ballarat. As such, other interventions may be more appropriate to reduce alcohol-related ED attendances.
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Drug and alcohol review · Jun 2012
Why the Distilled Spirits Industry Council of Australia is not a credible partner for the Australian government in making alcohol policy.
In 2008 the Australian government increased the excise rate on ready-to-drink premixed spirits or 'alcopops' by 70% to reduce their attraction to young people. A campaign against the decision was led by the Distilled Spirits Industry Council of Australia, whose members include representatives of the world's largest spirits producers and which aspires to partner the government in making alcohol policy. ⋯ For spirits producers to concede that drinking spirits is generically hazardous may be unprecedented and contradicts the spirits industry's long-standing opposition to the introduction of health warnings on product labels. Although that admission did not survive the resolution of the case, the effect may be profound, as it might justify the demand for greater control of the labelling and marketing of spirits, and reduce the credibility of spirits producers, and the broader alcohol industry, on matters of policy.