The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) say 38 million American adults are binge drinkers, and most of them are ages 18 to 34. In a new report, the CDC says that while binge drinking is more common among young adults, those age 65 and older who binge drink do so more often—an average of five to six times a month.

Binge drinking is defined as men who have five or more drinks in one sitting, and women who have four or more drinks at one time, HealthDay reports.

Binge drinking is responsible for more than half of the 80,000 alcohol-related deaths each year in the United States, and accounts for about three-fourths of the more than $200 billion in costs from alcohol abuse, according to the CDC.

“Binge drinking causes a wide range of health, social and economic problems and this report confirms the problem is really widespread,” CDC Director Thomas R. Frieden, M.D., M.P.H. said in a news release. “We need to work together to implement proven measures to reduce binge drinking at national, state and community levels.”

The CDC found binge drinking is more common among people with household incomes of $75,000 or more. However, binge drinkers with household incomes of less than $25,000 have the largest number of drinks per sitting—an average of eight to nine drinks.

A new study finds that investing in comprehensive tobacco cessation programs can result in substantial savings for Medicaid programs. These programs, by cutting smoking rates, lead to reduced hospital admissions for heart-related problems, UPI reports.

Researchers at the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services found every dollar spent in smoking cessation program costs led to an average savings of $3.12.

“Millions of low-income smokers in the U.S. are insured by Medicaid,” said lead author Leighton Ku, PhD in a news release. “In 2004, smoking-related Medicaid expenditures for all states combined was $22 billion, which represented 11 percent of all Medicaid spending. Investments in comprehensive tobacco cessation services in Medicaid can improve the health of patients, as well as save money for states and the federal government.”

The researchers calculated that a smoking cessation program in Massachusetts that offered a wide range of smoking cessation medications, as well as individual and group counseling for Medicaid recipients, saved an average of $388 per user per year. They noted that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will add millions of new Medicaid recipients in 2014, and tobacco cessation services in Medicaid could be offered to a much larger proportion of the low-income smoking population.

The findings appear in the journal PloS ONE.

Parents who allow their teens to have friends over to drink, thinking it’s a safe way to keep them off the roads, may be surprised to find they are subject to liability laws that make them vulnerable to lawsuits, fines and jail time.

Parents in some states can be liable even if they were not aware that drinking was going on in their home, according to the Associated Press. One Stanford University professor was arrested in November after his 17-year-old son had a party in the basement. The professor, Bill Burnett, said he had forbidden alcohol at the party and had twice checked on the teens. He spent one night in jail and was booked on 44 counts of suspicion of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Each count carries up to a $2,500 fine and almost a year in jail.

Eight states have “social host” laws that make parents liable if underage guests in their home are drinking, even if no harm comes to anyone, the AP reports. In some of the states, parents are allowed to serve alcohol to their own children in certain situations.

In 16 other states, laws hold parents responsible for underage drinking in some circumstances, such as if a teenager who drank in their home was in a car accident.

Research conducted by Students Against Destructive Decisions, and co-sponsored by the insurance company Liberty Mutual, found 41 percent of teens say their parents allow them to go to parties where alcohol is being served, compared with 36 percent two years ago.

Legislation that would ban the sale of “bath salts” and “Spice,” which was approved by the U.S. House in December, has stalled in the Senate, American Medical News reports.

The Synthetic Drug Control Act, approved by the House on December 8, bans more than 30 synthetic drugs, including bath salts and Spice. The measure would make it illegal to manufacture or dispense the drugs.

The bill would also give the Drug Enforcement Administration more authority to put temporary bans on potentially hazardous drugs as they are being investigated. The measure passed by a vote of 317 to 98. If it is passed by the Senate, bath salts and Spice will be put on a list of controlled substances. Researchers wishing to study them would need a license to obtain samples.

The legislation is supported by groups representing physicians and public health officials. The Senate version of the bill, introduced by Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa, is being delayed by an objection from Senator Rand Paul, MD, of Kentucky, according to Senator Grassley’s office. Dr. Paul did not respond to inquiries by the publication seeking comment.

The American Association of Poison Control Centers reported 6,072 calls in 2011 about human exposures to bath salts, compared with 303 the previous year.

By Join Together Staff | December 15, 2011 | 

Government experts are urging people to learn the facts about drinking and driving, to prevent the surge of alcohol-related car accidents that occur every holiday season.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), last year 10,228 people were killed in alcohol-impaired driving crashes, including 415 in the second half of December alone.

The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) says alcohol interferes with a person’s coordination, driving skills and judgment, HealthDay reports. Drinking can cause people to lose control and become aggressive, which can in turn affect driving skills.

Drinking can affect the brain for hours, NIAAA notes, and may even influence a person’s driving the next morning. Caffeine won’t help to reduce the effects of alcohol on the body.

If you do decide to drink during the holidays, pace yourself, NIAAA recommends in its pamphlet, “Rethinking Holiday Drinking.” Don’t have more than one drink per hour, and make every other drink a nonalcoholic one. Pick a designated driver to get you home safely. A designated driver should be someone who has not had anything to drink, not just the person in your group who had the least to drink.

This week the U.S. Department of Transportation announced a nationwide crackdown on drunk driving this holiday season. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said the education and enforcement initiative will include reminders to drivers that police and other agencies will be vigilant in seeking out drunk drivers.

The government is creating awareness of the dangers of drunk driving through the NHTSA’s “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” $7 million advertising campaign. The ads, which will run through January 2, portray drunk drivers being arrested.