Posts Tagged ‘alcohol consumption’
Haze feature documentary
November 17th, 2011 | 
Author: 
Posted in impairment | 
Tags: alcohol consumption, binge drinking, responsible alcohol service, Social Host Liability, teen drinking, underage drinking | 
Comments Closed
Underage Alcohol Use: Infused Gummy Bears
Although this is nothing ‘new’ it has been getting a lot of press lately. We are posting this only to raise the awareness of the alcohol sellers and servers that control environments where underage persons may use this approach to hide alcohol use.
Here is a link to one of the many articles:
http://www.keloland.com/videoarchive/index.cfm?VideoFile=111011drunk
You can do a search on You Tube if you are interested in finding out more.
Learn more and be safer visit us at servingalcohol.com
Posted in Alcohol Consumption, Alcohol Sales, Bartenders, Uncategorized, Underage drinking |
Tags: alcohol consumption, Preventing Underage Drinking, responsible alcohol service |
Comments Closed
Phusion Projects defends Four Loko criticism
Statement Regarding Incident at Central Washington University
October 26, 2010
No one is more upset than we are when our products are abused or consumed illegally by underage drinkers – and it appears that both happened in this instance. This is unacceptable.
But so too is placing blame for the incident squarely on Four Loko when the police report, toxicology reports and witness testimony all show that other substances, including beer, hard liquors like vodka and rum, and possibly illicit substances, were consumed as well.
In fact, while our product is mentioned only twice in the 44-page police report, hard liquor, vodka, rum or other alcohol is mentioned at least 19 times; beer is mentioned at least 3 times; and illegal drugs or roofies are mentioned at least 14 times – including twice in connection with an individual attending the party with the intention of bringing drugs with him and once in connection with smoking marijuana.
Officers on the scene reported disposing of the alcohol they found in the house, yet none of these officers described doing this by singling out one product or type of product.
In addition, the ages of the students involved have been redacted from the report, meaning there is no way to determine if any of the partygoers were of-age. Read the police report here.
In addition, the ages of the students involved have been redacted from the report, meaning there is no way to determine if any of the partygoers were of-age. However, in a letter to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna states that all of the students sickened were in fact underage – meaning these young men and women were illegally consuming alcohol. Read his letter here.
Again, the events in central Washington this month were inexcusable. And most would expect our company to disagree with recent decisions to ban our products from college campuses or otherwise restrict their use there.
We do not. We agree with the goals that underlie those sentiments. Making college campuses safe and healthy environments for learning is a goal we share with administrators – even those who have chosen to ban our products. However, we also know that curbing alcohol abuse on college campuses will not be accomplished by singling out a lone product or beverage category.
This is precisely why we go to great lengths to ensure our products are not sold to underage consumers and are not abused. As a company, we do all we can to ensure that our products are consumed safely and responsibly. Read more here.
Posted in Washington Alcohol News |
Tags: alcohol consumption, binge drinking, Four Loko, preventing intoxication, Preventing Underage Drinking, underage drinking, Washington |
Comments Closed
The changing world of beer aficionados
Source: Herald Tribune
By KRISTINE NICKEL
Wednesday, October 20, 2010 at 1:00 a.m.
This Bud’s for you, guys. After all, guys love beer. It is overwhelmingly a male beverage, with men accounting for about 75 percent of the volume consumed. A large number of these beer drinkers are white and favor domestic light beer, followed by domestic draft beer.
Here’s where the foam gets murky, however. More women are converting to beer, trending to specialty beers. According to Beerfocus.com, some emerging trends are breathing new life into the beer industry.
The sale of beer to women is a growing market.
Women currently account for 25 percent of beer consumption in the United States.
Women between the ages of 21 and 30 are drinking more beer than women in other age groups.
Beer drinking among women in the 50-plus age group is on the increase, too, a fact that has not gone unnoticed among beer advertisers worldwide.
SWITCHING FROM WINE
Women beer drinkers are a discerning bunch. They seem to demand more of their beer: more flavor, more complexity, more fruitiness, fewer calories and lower carbs.
Much of this new-found popularity has come at the expense of wine. Take my daughter, for example. She received her first wine the year she was born. She can hold her own in any wine tasting, dishing out descriptors with the best of them and is a whiz at matching food and wine.
She now mainly drinks beer.
Posted in Alcohol Consumption, Alcohol Sales |
Tags: alcohol consumption, alcohol sales, beer, trend |
Comments Closed
‘Super drunk’ drivers face tougher punishment with new Michigan law
Source: mlive.com
Published: Sunday, October 17, 2010, 6:59 AM
Starting on Oct. 31, there will be two kinds of drunken drivers in Michigan: standard and “super.”
Standard are those with blood alcohol content of 0.08 to 0.16 percent. The super drunk, a new category under state law, are first-time offenders who test at 0.17 or above.
The designation confers no special powers, just super-high penalties and super-stiff fees.
Fines and other costs could top $8,000, some defense attorneys predict. Alcohol treatment is mandatory, possible jail time is doubled, and driving is forbidden for 45 days.
The penalties include another first for Michigan: a requirement to install an in-car breathalyzer.
To resume driving after 45 days, first-time super-drunk offenders must buy an ignition interlock, which works by testing a driver’s breath and allows the car to run only if the driver is sober.
The change is part of an effort to toughen drunken driving penalties, by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and groups like Mothers Against Drunk Driving. Michigan joined more than 40 states when the Legislature passed the standards with virtually no opposition at the end of 2008.
The technical term is “high blood alcohol content enhanced penalty law.” ”We don’t really like calling it the super drunk law,” said Anne Readett, spokeswoman for the Michigan Office of Highway Safety Planning.
Critics of the law, including defense lawyers, question its effectiveness.
Advocates call the measure positive but not enough – “a disappointing step in the right direction,” said Michigan MADD’s executive director, Homer Smith.
For example, state lawmakers set the blood-alcohol standard at 0.17 percent, bucking a trend toward tougher 0.15 thresholds preferred by MADD. And at least a dozen states require interlock devices for all convicted drunken drivers.
“The Legislature had an opportunity to do something that would significantly deter drunk driving,” Smith said. “Unfortunately, they chose to do less than the optimum.”
Michigan still considers 0.08 percent to be legally drunk, and the new law does not affect repeat offenders or people who face a felony for causing death, injury or damage.
About one-third of Michigan drivers whom police suspect of driving drunk test at the enhanced penalty levels.
Interlocks have gained in effectiveness and acceptance since 2007, when federal traffic safety officials began a campaign urging judges to require the devices.
A device costs the driver about $100 a month to maintain. Other costs to violators come from state driver responsibility fees and attorney fees.
First-time offenders who meet the super-drunk standard are looking at $8,000 to $10,000, according to defense attorney Gerald Lykins.
He is unconvinced the law will be effective.
“I’m not sure that penalizing someone who blows a 0.17 rather than 0.14 will prevent people from drunk driving,” he said. “The driver responsibility fee was supposed to reduce bad driving, but that hasn’t worked.”
MADD counters that enhanced penalties are working in other states. New Mexico, for instance, has had a 20 percent reduction in alcohol-related crashes since its law was passed in 2005.
Kalamazoo County Assistant Prosecutor Aubrey Sharp said the new penalties treat offenses in proportion to one another.
“You have a person with a 0.09 blood alcohol level who is punished the same as someone with a 0.32,” Sharp said.
Others take a wait-and-see approach. Kent County Prosecutor William Forsyth said penalties already are harsh.
“It’s still drunk driving and I don’t see how it’s really going to change,” he said.
Grand Rapids Assistant City Attorney Mike Tomich calls the law “a useful tool for public safety.” But he said he is not certain the provisions will change behavior overall.
Grand Rapids District Court Judge Jeanine LaVille, who oversees sobriety court, said the added mandatory penalties take more discretion from judges, who have crafted sentences based on individual needs and offenses.
“We’re already doing what the Legislature suggests,” LaVille said.
Attorney Lykins said if the state wants to prevent drunken driving, lawmakers could consider taking the law to its logical conclusion.
“We could demand that car manufactures have interlock devices as standard equipment,” Lykins said, “just like seatbelts.”
Posted in Alcohol Consumption, Michigan Alcohol News |
Tags: alcohol consumption, Alcohol Vendor Protection, drunk driving, laws, overconsumpsion, preventing intoxication, Social Host Liability, super drunk |
Comments Closed