A recent study from the University of Washington that found a significant increase in heavy drinking and binge drinking rates in particular areas of the US created quite a buzz in the press. One of the areas that saw such a rise was in our very own backyard - Santa Clara County - where binge drinking rates increased as much as 36 percent among women. Wanting to know the reasons for such an increase, the media asked ARG scientists to provide their rationale and response to the study … [Read more...]
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New Recovery Study Funded
Associate Scientist, Amy Mericle, recently received NIDA funding (R21 DA 039027) for a project that focuses on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) adults who face unique health disparities. Within this community, men who have sex with men (MSM) are at increased risk for substance abuse, HIV/AIDS, and other adverse health conditions. Addiction recovery residences are a promising mechanism to enhance outcomes among individuals who abuse substances, but the experiences of … [Read more...]
Men’s Hazardous Drinking Risks
A new study found that men who have sex with men (MSM)—defined as gay and bisexually identified men as well as heterosexually identified men who had same-sex partners--reported equal or lower levels of hazardous drinking than exclusively heterosexual men. This finding dispels the popular assumption that men who have sex with men are more likely to consume alcohol above recommended amounts. The study results also suggest that the protective effect is enhanced for some racial/ethnic groups. Black … [Read more...]
Cannabis & Alcohol Shouldn’t Be Mixed
Even though cannabis is the most commonly used drug by people who drink alcohol, no study has looked at the implications of drinking and smoking cannabis at the same time. ARG Associate Scientist Meenakshi Sabina Subbaraman and Senior Scientist William C. Kerr have done just that - to investigate how combining the two substances affects adult drinkers compared to people who use both separately. Their findings show that simultaneous users had double the odds of drunk driving, social … [Read more...]
Is a Drink a Day Good for You?
There's been a lot of talk recently - both in the news and social media - that for people between the ages of 40 and 50 years old, having one drink a day is good for your health. The buzz started with a commentary by Professor Rubin, published in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, who suggested that "physicians should counsel lifelong non-drinkers at about 40 to 50 years of age to relax and take a drink a day." However, ARG Senior Scientists Thomas K. … [Read more...]
Study Looks at How Living at the US-Mexico Border Affects Drinking Behavior
For many of us our experience of the US-Mexico border is one of seemingly endless custom lines, traffic noise and congestion, and the long wait for an agent to review our documents. That's because most of us are just passing through, on our way to beaches in the south and back to our homes in the north. But what about the people who live on either side - how does the border that divides two countries, and all too often families as well, impact the people and communities that live within its … [Read more...]
How much can you safely drink before driving?
Black and Hispanic drinkers are more likely to overestimate how much they can safely drink two hours before driving, a new and innovative study examining impairment limits found. The study, to be published on line ahead of print in the American Journal of Public Health, determined that, on average and controlling for other factors such as weight, education and drinking history, self-reported impairment thresholds (number of standard drinks one could drink in 2 hours before driving without being … [Read more...]
How big is your drink?
Most people know that drink sizes differ depending on where you purchase your drink and that they're not very consistent, in particular when you compare with how much you pour when at home. Since the size of drink determines how much alcohol you're consuming, knowing the amount of alcohol in a "standard drink", or what the British call a "unit of alcohol", as well as how to pour that amount of your usual beverage, is critical when trying to stay healthy and making sure you're not exceeding the … [Read more...]
How does your drinking measure up?
One way to look at your drinking habits is to compare your own consumption level to how much the rest of the nation is drinking. ARG Senior Scientist, Thomas K. Greenfield and Scientist, Yu Ye, took data from the 2010 National Alcohol Survey (NAS) consisting of 7,969 individuals residing in 50 states and Washington DC, and looked at the number of drinks both women and men said they consumed per week on average during the last 12 months. Take a minute to add up how much you usually drink in a … [Read more...]
What is Recovery?
The term ‘recovery’ is widely used in the research literature. Recovery is a goal of alcohol treatment, and recovery-oriented systems of care are being developed to support that goal. Alcoholics who no longer drink and are trying to pursue an improved way of living/being say that they are ‘in recovery.’ Yet for all its use, and seeming centrality, there is no agreed upon definition of the term within the alcohol literature. Lacking a definition, recovery usually is equated with abstinence or … [Read more...]
