The Latest News from Our Field

What say you, Amethyst Initiative? College students drink and drive more after they reach legal drinking age, a new study finds ... Former President George W. Bush says his journey from ne’er do well to the White House started with his decision to stop drinking ... Even notoriously frugal New Englanders are starting to hit the tobacco industry with large penalties in sick-smoker cases ... And it’s little wonder smokers get sick: a new study finds that smoking caused literally tens of thousands of genetic mutations in tissue taken from a middle-aged smoker.

Eric Morris’s always-entertaining Freakonomics blog at the New York Times this week asks what works in getting people to drink less alcohol. As usual, the economist references an impressive array of research as he weighs in on the various interventions available.

Morris’ conclusion: screening and brief intervention has the most promise, and while restrictions on alcohol advertising seems to work, it’s doubtful that serious curbs will ever be enacted.

As we report in the news today, the parent company of retailer TJ Maxx acted swiftly to remove a series of drinking games from stores shelves after a Boston Globe reporter spotted the games and contacted the company asking why games titled "Drink Like a Fish" and "Drink Til You Drop" were on display next to graduation gifts.

Anheuser-Busch and a local beer wholesaler are seeking a deal to name a new performing-arts center in Raleigh, N.C., the Bud Light Amphitheater. City officials said the $300,000 in annual fees for the naming rights would cover most of the facility’s operating expenses, but the city’s Substance Abuse Advisory Commission says the deal would send the wrong message to kids.

Are you concerned about alcohol and other drug use in Massachusetts? If so, there are several opportunities for you to learn and lead this month. Check out the free one-day advocacy and leadership trainings co-sponsored by the Association for Behavioral Healthcare (ABH) and Massachusetts Organization for Addiction Recovery (MOAR). (The Allston training is sold out, but seats for the Pittsfield and Peabody trainings are still available.)

Here’s a retailer that doesn’t discount public opinion: the owner of TJ Maxx pulled drinking games from store shelves after an inquiry from a Boston reporter ... a Saudi treatment program is looking to the U.S. for a model for improving services in a country where Islam prohibits any use of alcohol or other drugs ... Pink cigarettes, anyone? Tobacco companies are ramping up marketing to women in poor countries as smoking among men declines ... No spitting, smoking or swearing: An upstate New York college is using positive peer pressure to fight bad behaviors.

Cutting out the middleman: A new study says that heroin addicts who don’t respond to methadone can benefit from heroin maintenance ... Highly pure heroin from Mexico is causing more overdoses in the U.S. ... An energy drink called "Four Loko" has 12 percent alcohol ... Some doctors won’t perform elective surgery on smokers, citing liability concerns and risk of complications.

The Legal Action Center has always been one of the most valuable advocacy resources for the addiction field, but it’s website has lagged behind. So it’s great news that the site has been upgraded to make it more useful and user-friendly...

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has unveiled a draft strategic framework for improving the health of people with multiple co-occurring long-term or chronic health conditions (e.g., health disease, diabetes, other behavioral health disorders) and is soliciting comments on the plan. Comments on the plan from the HHS Interagency Workgroup on Multiple Chronic Conditions can be submitted through June 16.

Keep an eye on those coolers this weekend: youth ER visits related to drinking spike over the Memorial Day holiday, SAMHSA reports ... Treatment services continue to get gutted by California’s fiscal crisis: first prison-based programs, and now methadone maintenance funded by MediCal face the budget axe ...