Alcohol self-assessment - Are you drinking too much?

If you're not really sure about the amount you are drinking take this short test.

It'll help you to assess the effects of your drinking and if it suggests you're drinking too much you'll get advice on how to cut down or seek further help.

QUESTIONS

1.How often do you have a drink containing alcohol?

a) Never (0 points)

b) Once a month or less (1 points)

c) 2 to 4 times a month (2 points)

d) 2 to 3 times a week (3 points)

e) 4 or more times a week (4 points)

2.How many units of alcohol do you have on a typical day when you are drinking?

1-2 (0 points)

3-4 (1 point)

 5-6 (2 points)

7-9 (3 points)

10 + (4 points)

What is a unit?

You can't just count each drink as a unit of alcohol. The number of units depends on the different strength and size of each drink, so it can vary a lot.

Here's some examples:

• Pint of beer, 4%, is 2.3 units
• 500ml can of strong lager, 6%, 3 units
• 250ml glass of wine, 11%, 2.8 units
• 330ml can of cider, 5%, 1.7 units
• Single (25ml) measure of spirits (e.g. vodka or gin), 1 unit

3.How often do you have six or more units on one occasion?

a) Never (0 points)

b) Less than monthly (1 points)

c) Monthly (2 points)

d) Weekly (3 points)

e) Daily or almost daily (4 points)

What’s binge drinking?

Binge drinking usually refers to drinking lots of alcohol in a short space of time or drinking to get drunk. 

There is no consistently agreed measure of binge drinking but drinking more than eight units on any day for men, and more than six units for women, is the measure normally used.

The vital thing is to avoid drinking heavily in one session or drinking to intoxication.

Binge drinking is a major factor in accidents, violence and anti-social behaviour.

4. How often during the last year have you failed to do what was normally expected from you because of your drinking?

a) Never (0 points)

b) Less than monthly (1 points)

c) Monthly (2 points)

d) Weekly (3 points)

e) Daily or almost daily (4 points)

5.How often during the last year have you found that you were not able to stop drinking once you had started?

a) Never (0 points)

b) Less than monthly (1 points)

c) Monthly (2 points)

d) Weekly (3 points)

e) Daily or almost daily (4 points)

6. How often during the last year have you needed an alcoholic drink in the morning to get yourself going after a heavy drinking session?

a) Never (0 points)

b) Less than monthly (1 point)

c) Monthly (2 points)

d) Weekly (3 points)

e) Daily or almost daily (4 points)

7.How often during the last year have you had a feeling of guilt or remorse after drinking?

a) Never (0 points)

b) Less than monthly (1 points)

c) Monthly (2 points)

d) Weekly (3 points)

e) Daily or almost daily (4 points)

8.How often during the last year have you been unable to remember what happened the night before because you had been drinking?

a) Never (0 points)

b) Occasionally (1 point)

c) Monthly (2 points)

d) Weekly (3 points)

e) Daily (4 points)

9.Have you or somebody else been injured as a result of your drinking?

a) No, this has never happened (0 points)

b) Yes, but not in the past year (2 points)

c) Yes, during the past year (4 points)

10.Has a relative, friend, doctor or health worker been concerned about your drinking or suggested you cut down?

a) No, never (0 points)

b) Yes, but not in the past year (2 points)

c) Yes, during the past year (4 points)

RESULTS

0-8 points

Based on your answers today you're drinking in a way that is sociable and is unlikely to harm your health.

As long as your drinking does remain within recommended levels, there is only a low risk that the way you drink will contribute to future health problems.

The NHS recommends that women should not regularly drink more than 2-3 units a day and men should not regularly drink more than 3-4 units a day.

Remember, there can be risks from one-off episodes of heavy drinking too.

8-20 points

Based on your answers today your drinking does appear to be putting you at increased risk of developing health problems, so you might want to think about cutting down.

The following can help you cut down:

• Work out a daily limit and stick to it.
• Do more activities that don't involve drinking.
• Eat before and while you're drinking.
• Don't let anyone top up your drinks.
• Tell your friends you're cutting down.
• Count your units.

The NHS recommends that women should not regularly drink more than 2-3 units a day and men should not regularly drink more than 3-4 units a day.

20-100 points

Based on your answers today your drinking is already causing you problems.

The NHS recommends that women should not regularly drink more than 2-3 units a day and men should not regularly drink more than 3-4 units a day.

For more information please visit our website Drug Test Australia.com.au call us on our hotline 1300 660 636 or send an email enquiry

Posted by Drug Test Australia Original at http://www.nhs.uk/Tools/Documents/Alcohol%20self%20assessment.htm

When social drinking becomes a problem

By Melissa HogenboomBBC News

Alcohol-related health issues among baby boomers are on the rise. Daily drinking can start off as a social event but turn into dependency, addiction experts say. So when does social drinking become alcoholism?

In the festive season, with office parties, Christmas, and new year, there is opportunity aplenty for yet another tipple.

Since the 1950s, alcohol consumption in the UK has gradually increased. The NHS now spends more on alcohol-related illness among baby boomers than any other age group, with £825m spent on 55 to 74-year-olds in 2010-11 compared to £64m on under-24s.

Estimates also suggest about nine per cent of men and three per cent of women in the UK show signs of alcohol dependence.

But it is the functioning alcoholic that can slip under the radar - before their health issues are severe enough to need treatment.

Straight vodka

Dr John Marsden, an alcohol and drug dependency expert from King's College London, says a typical functioning alcoholic can manage to hold down a job despite having a "very severe drinking problem that they have been incubating over a very long period".

"Alcohol problems are difficult to understand because they do not occur overnight. They are hidden from view which makes functioning alcoholics a group we cannot easily help."

Rob C, who is 61, was one of them. At his worst he was drinking 1.5 litres of straight vodka per day.

"Then I began to suffer blackouts, losing whole days and not remembering anything."

He would be first to arrive at work, which made him able to set out his "drinks for the day with what looked like a bottle of mineral water".

"I would hide bottles around the office. You think nobody else knows, that it doesn't smell, that you're getting away with it. But of course they did notice."

Life saver

For several years, maintaining a full-time finance job, he drank increasingly more during the day.

Continue reading the main story

“Start Quote

There was work, there was money and increasingly the motivation to alter ones mood quickly. Alcohol has been the drug of choice to do that”

Dr John MarsdenAddiction expert

What started as a social pastime nearly cost him his relationship. Now sober for eight years, looking back he says that even if a colleague had said something at the time, he would not have listened.

"I resented the changes at work and told myself I deserved a drink. I would buy wine at lunchtime and drink it from a polystyrene cup."

Wine turned to vodka for a "bigger kick" and lunchtime turned to morning through to night.

Early retirement on medical grounds made his addiction worse. It was only when his partner threatened to kick him out that he sought help with Alcoholics Anonymous, who he says saved his life.

Rob is not alone. In the last decade there has been a 63% increase in prescriptions for the treatment of alcohol dependency in England, as well as a 20% rise in deaths from liver disease.

Prof Sir Ian Gilmore, a liver specialist and chair of the Alcohol Health Alliance, believes the number of people dying from liver disease will keep rising.

Continue reading the main story

A silent killer

• Most cases of liver disease are attributed to alcohol, viral hepatitis or non-alcoholic fatty liver disease
• The liver has no pain fibres so there are often no signs that damage is happening
• Doctors recently unveiled a colour-coded blood test which can reveal the damage caused by excess drinking

• Are you drinking too much? Take the NHS test

The majority of people who have alcohol-related health problems are middle-aged, which Sir Ian says is a consequence of chronic alcohol misuse - many years of frequent heavy drinking, rather than binge drinking - a session of drinking large amounts of alcohol in a small space of time.

But he says that though there is a big overlap, it is important to remember not all heavy social drinkers are dependent on alcohol.

"Some people can control their drinking after work, others can't. If people are frequently drinking harmful levels of alcohol - over 50 units a week for men, 35 for women - most will end up suffering some form of physical, mental or social harm."

A lifetime's worth of drinking is catching up with baby boomers, says Emily Robinson from the Alcohol Concern.

The charity hopes that their campaign, Dry January, will help get people thinking about how much they drink, especially at home when units are harder to measure, and crucially, before they reach a stage where drinking is affecting their health.

"The issue of people drinking every day is worrying as it's a way of slipping into dependency, as you need to drink a little more each time to feel the same effects," she says.

Dr Marsden suggests the line between social drinking and dependency is clear. He says the first question that needs to be asked by clinicians or family members is: "Has anyone expressed concern to you about your drinking?"

Continue reading the main story

What's a unit?

• Half a pint of standard strength (4%) beer, cider or lager
• A single pub measure of spirit (25ml)
• Half a standard glass of wine (175ml)

• Alcohol units guide

This question assesses whether a person's behavior has negatively impacted on someone close to them, he adds.

"If your alcohol consumption has caused a problem for someone else - I'm not rushing to label you an alcoholic but suggesting you need to take a closer look at your behaviour."

There is a clear reason the baby boomer generation is now most at risk from alcohol-related problems, argues Dr Marsden.

A hard-working generation led to an appetite for entertainment and relaxation.

"There was work, there was money and increasingly the motivation to alter one's mood quickly. Alcohol has been the drug of choice to do that."

For more information on Drug and Alcohol Testing visit Drug Test Australia or call 1300 660 636 or send an email inquiry to sales@drugtestaustralia.com.au

Posted by Drug Test AustraliaOriginal http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-20498044

Drug testing pits privacy against safety

Posted by Drug Test Australia

Drug testing pits privacy against safety; 

Judges to hear Suncor arguments

Original By Amanda Stephenson, Calgary Herald November 24, 2012 http://www.calgaryherald.com/health/Drug+testing+pits+privacy+against+safety/7605165/story.html#ixzz2DOosEK6t

A lab technician tests samples for drugs.

A three-judge Alberta Court of Appeal panel will next week hear from Suncor Energy Inc. as the oilsands giant argues against an injunction blocking its proposed random employee drug testing program.

Next month, the Supreme Court of Canada will hear the case of Irving Pulp and Paper, a New Brunswick company whose plan to have its employees submit to mandatory breathalyzer tests has been fought tooth and nail by the same union that represents Suncor workers.

Both cases will be watched closely by employers, safety companies and privacy experts, as the courts try to find a balance between safety on the job and an individual's right to privacy.

Unlike the United States, where workplace drug tests are relatively common, Canada has had little experience with randomly administered on-the-job tests. But that could be about to change.

"Employers have to take action. They're responsible for maintaining a safe work environment," says Pat Atkins, administrator of Alberta's Drug and Alcohol Risk Reduction Pilot Project (DARRPP). "There are problems in the oilsands related to alcohol and drugs ... and we think it would be irresponsible for organizations not to take action, given the concerns they're seeing."
Those concerns range from drug paraphernalia found on work sites to workplace accidents caused by drunk or stoned employees.

Suncor has stated three of the seven deaths that have occurred at its Fort McMurray oilsands operation since 2000 involved workers under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
"Every day that passes, the risk increases," Suncor lawyer Tom Wakeling told the Alberta Court of Appeal last month. "The Suncor workplace is inherently a dangerous space.

The consequences of mistakes in this hazardous environment may include catastrophes."
Most oilsands companies already have some form of drug-testing policy in place - in most cases, testing occurs after an accident takes place, or if an employee exhibits behaviour that provides "just cause." In some cases, employees must pass a drug test before being hired for a certain position or before being contracted to work on a certain job site.

DARRPP is different. The two-year pilot project, led by a working group of oilsands industry employers and labour providers, aims to introduce completely random drug testing in "safety sensitive" positions at participating workplaces.

Organizers of the project point to U.S. data that indicates random testing is more likely to catch workplace drug and alcohol problems than incident-driven testing.

One of the first companies to get on board with DARRPP was Suncor, which announced in June its plan to implement mandatory random drug tests for safety sensitive employees at its oilsands facilities. However, before Suncor could implement its proposal, a grievance was filed by the Communications, Energy, and Paperworkers Union. The union, which represents 3,400 workers at the Suncor site, argued random drug testing violates its members' right to privacy.
"This is about the right to preserve their bodily integrity, quite frankly. Their privacy, their dignity," union lawyer Ritu Khullar told the appeals court last month.

Days earlier, a Court of Queen's Bench Judge issued an injunction, ruling Suncor cannot move ahead with its program until the union's grievance can be reviewed by a labour arbitration board. Suncor appealed, and that appeal is set to be heard on Wednesday.

The same union is also fighting Irving Pulp and Paper, the New Brunswick company that introduced a workplace safety policy in 2006 that included random alcohol testing for employees. That case will be heard by the Supreme Court of Canada in December.
Atkins said DARRPP is confident it is well within its legal rights.
"We believe we have designed the project in such a way to respect privacy and human rights," Atkins said.

Ed Secondiak, president of ECS Services - which has designed drug testing programs for large and small corporations for 18 years - says there are ways to ensure employees' rights are respected while still reducing the risk of on-the-job substance abuse.

Secondiak said when he designs a program, all drug test results are reviewed by a medical review officer. If a test comes back positive, the medical review officer will speak privately to the employee in question, and if he or she can provide a medical reason for why they might have a drug in their system, they are given an all-clear without their employer ever being informed of the original test results.

Test results are kept under lock and key with limited access, and are never shared with outside agencies without the employee's permission.

Secondiak says in most cases, when a person fails a test, he or she is sent for a substance abuse assessment. An addictions counsellor will decide whether the individual can come back to work, or needs more treatment. He said in many cases, being flagged by a workplace test is exactly the push some addicts need to get treatment and turn their lives around.
"I would say there's a high success rate when you're dealing with alcohol and marijuana in terms of being able to bring people back (to the job)," he says.

Dr. Charl Els, an addictions psychiatrist with the University of Alberta, agrees substance abuse in the workplace is a serious issue. Using U.S. statistics as a base - because there are no reliable Canadian statistics - he estimates that 8.3 per cent of full-time workers use illicit drugs.
"We likely are only seeing the tip of the iceberg in terms of the visible cases of substance use and abuse," Els says. "It's well accepted that we underestimate the prevalence and the actual impact."

Els also believes the nature of the oilsands industry means workers there are more likely to use drugs.

"It's typically a young, male population, there's a lot of excess time when they don't work, there's a lot of disposable income and cash in the pocket. They're typically not with their families, they're isolated. So there's a number of factors that make people more prone to use," he says.

However, Els says random drug testing is the wrong approach. He says a typical urine test only detects the presence of a substance in a person's system - it can't detect whether the person is impaired. That means it cannot differentiate between a person who smoked marijuana 20 minutes earlier and is stoned on the job versus a person who smoked a joint at a weekend party three days ago.

"The vast majority of people who use cannabis instead of having a beer on Friday evening may well test positive on Monday morning, and without it remotely having any impact on workplace impairment or occupational risk," Els says. "What they will detect is a whole lot of normal, recreational users with no risk to the workplace. And that I view as an invasion of privacy."

Els adds there are a lot of workers and professionals other than oil sands employees who can be considered to be doing "safety specific" work, and they aren't being subjected to random drug tests.

"You can imagine the uproar if I suggested tomorrow we need to start testing all physicians for cannabis," he said. "By this logic, any individual operating a vehicle for work should not be able to do so unless they can test negative."

Els says he has no problem with post-accident or just cause workplace drug testing, it's the random testing he opposes. He says there simply isn't enough solid evidence that random drug testing reduces the rates of workplace accidents, adding he too will be watching the Suncor case and the Irving Pulp and Paper case with interest.

"I would be surprised if random testing will actually be cleared as acceptable and not in violation," he says.

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Email; Sales@drugtestaustralia.com.au
Phone; 1300 660 636

Posted by Drug Test Australia;

Workers' Drug & Alcohol Consumption by Industry

Research undertaken by The National Centre for Education and Training on Addiction, NCETA, Australia's national research centre on alcohol and other drugs workforce development, has identified that alcohol and drug consumption patterns vary substantially between industries and occupations.  This data is important for the design of targeted interventions. The following tables outline some of these differences identified from a secondary analysis of 2004 National Drug Strategy Household Survey data:

Proportions of workers who have used an illicit drug at least once in the past 12 months or drink at risky levels ( >6 standard drinks for males; >5 standard drinks for females) weekly or more often by industry

Industry	Drugs	Industry	Alcohol
Hospitality	31.8%	Hospitality	16.0%
Construction	24.2%	Wholesale	14.4%
Retail	20.7%	Construction	14.3%
Transport	18.3%	Agriculture	12.6%
Finance	17.4%	Retail	11.0%
Manufacturing	17.2%	Manufacturing	9.9%
Wholesale	16.4%	Transport	9.5%
Agriculture	15.8%	Mining	9.2%
Services	15.1%	Services	8.0%
Administration	12.4%	Finance	7.9%
Mining	12.0%	Administration	7.4%
Education	9.2%	Education	3.2%
All workers	17.5%	All workers	9.4%

For more information, see original article at: http://nceta.flinders.edu.au/workplace/key-issues/workers-patterns-of-aod-consumption-by-industry-and-occupation/

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