Where's Cappy?

A new take on Canada-U.S. free trade

BRAMPTON, ONT. -- Call it free trade in the underworld: Marijuana and ecstasy pills pour south, swapped for guns and cocaine that are shipped north. It's a pattern long familiar to police seeking to intercept contraband flowing back and forth across the porous Canadian-U.S. border.

And the quality of the marijuana and the guns, it seems, just keeps getting better.

On one side of a table at Peel Regional Police headquarters yesterday, guarded by two seriously armed policemen, lay a dozen shiny new handguns and a gleaming, Chinese-made Uzi. On the other were fat plastic bags of ecstasy tablets and clumps of marijuana so potent the aroma was detectable from several metres away.

"It's a common trafficking pattern that we have seen for years," agent Regina Lombardo of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives told a news conference outlining an unusually large clutch of arrests and charges, the result of an investigation dubbed Project Rebel.

"And we tackle it the same way we have for years. It's a collaborative effort."

Posted on a display board were photographs of car-door panels in which the goods were stashed and concealed by the "mules" who did much of the driving.

After simultaneous raids Wednesday in Greater Toronto, Florida and Alabama, around 20 people now face charges for their roles in what police say was a sophisticated network that exported marijuana and ecstasy and exchanged the drugs for guns, ammunition and sometimes cocaine.

In Southern Ontario, 10 people - including five women - were picked up, and face a total of 134 drug and weapons charges. Five others had already been arrested in Sudbury as part of the same investigation.

Wednesday's raids in Toronto, Peel and Halton regions also yielded 29 handguns, 10,000 ecstasy tablets, 515 grams of cocaine, several kilos of Canadian-grown marijuana and quantities of methamphetamine.

And while the 10 GTA residents do not appear to be gang members, the weapons they were bringing into Canada could have found a ready market in gangland and caused "devastation," said Detective Inspector Steve Clegg of the Ontario Provincial Police's weapons enforcement unit.

In this instance, he said, the guns were bought legally at U.S. gun shops by "a straw purchaser" who resold them to network members, who in turn sent them north in the same cars that smuggled the marijuana and ecstasy south.

Little cash appears to have been involved, Ms. Lombardo said. Rather, the two commodities were essentially being bartered, in a two-way trade rooted in supply and demand.

In much of the United States, the penalties for cultivating marijuana or manufacturing MDMA, otherwise known as ecstasy, are often Draconian. In Canada, much less so.

Handguns, on the other hand, are so easily obtainable south of the border that they offer an inviting profit when retailed on the streets of Canadian cities. "And right now there does seem to be a demand on our streets for guns," Det. Insp. Clegg said.

source: The Globe and Mail

Nostalgia or Negligence?

A COMING television series about Madison Avenue, set in the days when sponsors’ products were regularly woven into the plots of shows, is — yes — getting a sponsor whose product will be regularly woven into the plot of each episode.
Those advertising people, to paraphrase a line from the 1956 film “Written on the Wind,” so clever with ideas.

The series is “Mad Men,” a look at the industry and those who chose it as a career, circa 1960, as told through the employees and clients of a fictitious agency called Sterling Cooper. The hourlong dramatic series is to begin a 13-week run on July 19 on the AMC cable network.

Jack Daniel’s Tennessee whiskey sold by the Brown-Forman Corporation will sponsor “Mad Men” under an agreement that involves the product both on and off the show. The deal was brought to Brown-Forman by the Universal McCann media agency in New York, part of the McCann Worldgroup division of the Interpublic Group of Companies.

“You always want to keep your eye on what’s the next new thing, to talk to consumers in a relevant way,” said Mark Bacon, national brand director for Jack Daniel’s at Brown-Forman in Louisville, Ky.

The funny part is that although the concept of turning products into integral elements of shows, known as branded entertainment, is new to contemporary advertisers, it was actually a mainstay of marketing from the ’30s through the ’60s.

Back then, the sponsors were featured in titles — like “The Bell Telephone Hour,” “Lux Radio Theater” and “Schlitz Playhouse of Stars” — and cast members of series like “Fibber McGee and Molly,” “I Love Lucy” and “The Andy Griffith Show” delivered commercials in character.

Branded entertainment faded four decades ago after it became too expensive for individual sponsors to finance production of a series. The networks also sought to regain control of their schedules after questions arose about undue sponsor influence, as when the results of quiz shows like “Twenty-One” were manipulated at the behest of advertisers.

Today, branded entertainment is making a comeback as marketers and networks seek to cope with the increasing ability of viewers to zip through or zap traditional commercials. If a pitch is incorporated into a program that people want to watch, the thinking goes, there is a far higher chance it will be noticed.

“What’s old is new again, in a lot of ways,” said Charlie Collier, executive vice president and general manager at AMC, part of the entertainment services division of Rainbow Media Holdings, owned by the Cablevision Systems Corporation. AMC is producing “Mad Men” in association with Lionsgate.

“The 30-second commercial is still here,” Mr. Collier said. “The question is, How do we put it in the best context?”

“This is a unique opportunity in a show about advertising to showcase advertisers and their commercials,” he added.

In episodes of “Mad Men,” characters will drink Jack Daniel’s in various scenes or ask for the brand by name. Sets will be decorated with vintage bottles, decanters and ads. Executives associated with advertising and public relations campaigns for Jack Daniel’s will be among the industry figures interviewed for short segments about “ad legends” past and present.

And Jack Daniel’s will be featured in promotions on AMC asking viewers to watch the series as well as in brief vignettes to introduce commercials that the network is calling “Mad-vertising.”

Off the show, Jack Daniel’s will be the sponsor of the “Mad Men” section of the AMC Web site (amctv.com) and will be credited on posters, print ads and other materials intended to encourage viewers to tune in.

The brand will also play a prominent role at an event tomorrow in Midtown Manhattan during which AMC will offer agency executives a preview of the first episode of the series. Napkins, stirrers and other paraphernalia will bear the Jack Daniel’s logo and of course attendees can order drinks made with a certain Tennessee whiskey.

As marketers revive branded entertainment, one issue they confront is the cynicism of current-day consumers about the blurring of the line between advertising and programming. For example, many viewers of the NBC series “Heroes” scoffed at scenes in which, as part of a deal with the Nissan Motor Company, characters not only drove a Nissan Versa but referred to it by name continually in the dialogue.

Integrating products into plot lines “drives audiences away if it makes them feel they’re being sold something in the middle of their entertainment,” said Matthew Weiner, the creator, writer and executive producer of “Mad Men,” who, during an interview last week, was filming the seventh episode of the series.

“I really don’t want advertising dictating the contents of the show,” he added, but there is something to be said for the verisimilitude of “having real brands” in scenes that helps evoke the era in which the series takes place.

For realism, some products included in episodes of “Mad Men” will not be sold by sponsors, Mr. Weiner said, citing the Rinso detergent brand once made by Lever Brothers.

“Jack Daniel’s is pretty easy” to include in a show set in the early ’60s, he added, particularly one about the mores and morals of the ad industry of the period. As an example, Mr. Weiner mentioned a scene he had recently filmed that took place “in a beatnik club,” where there’s a bottle on top of a piano as a woman recites a poem.

Mr. Bacon at Brown-Forman said he was not worried that including Jack Daniel’s in a series taking place almost 50 years ago would date the brand. Rather, he said, it would highlight its “authenticity,” a brand attribute that is becoming an important selling point with consumers in their 20s and 30s.

As for featuring Jack Daniel’s in a series in which characters may drink to excess, as one young executive does at his bachelor party in the first episode, Mr. Bacon said: “Responsibility is a cornerstone of all our advertising. Whenever we can, we would like to convey the message of responsible consumption.”

source: New York Times
author: Stuart Elliott

Problem Drinking Kills Almost Half of Russia's Young Adult Men

Study puts death toll at 43% of males aged 25 to 54
Alcohol abuse now causes nearly half of all deaths of Russia's younger men, a new study finds.

In total, 43 percent of deaths among men ages 25 to 54 are linked to problem drinking, according to a study in this week's issue of The Lancet medical journal.

The authors of the study defined hazardous alcohol drinking as excessive consumption of alcoholic beverages such as beer, wine and spirits, and consumption of non-beverage alcohol such as cleaning agents, colognes and medical tinctures.

For this study, researchers at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Health in England analyzed data on 1,750 men who died between 2003 and 2005, and 1,750 men who were still alive. All the men lived in Izhevsk, a typical Russian industrial city in the Ural mountains.

They found that men who were problem drinkers of alcoholic beverages, or who drank non-beverage alcohol, were six times more likely to die than men who did not have a drinking problem or did not drink at all.

Men who drank non-beverage alcohol were nine times more likely to die than men who did not consume non-beverage alcohol.

"Almost half of all deaths in working age men in a typical Russian city may be accounted for by hazardous drinking. Our analyses provide indirect support for the contention that the sharp fluctuations seen in Russian mortality in the early 1990s could be related to hazardous drinking as indicated by consumption of non-beverage alcohol," the study authors concluded.

However, an accompanying comment by two experts from Canada and Switzerland noted that many factors -- such as poor housing conditions and poor diets -- may have affected death rates during the years covered by the study and that it's "highly unlikely" that consumption of non-beverage alcohol was "the main contributor to the change of mortality."

Dr. Jurgen Rehm of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto and Dr. Gerhard Gmel of an alcohol and drug abuse institute in Switzerland also noted that the study did not look at illegally-produced alcoholic beverages, a major source of alcohol consumption in Russia.

source: The Lancet

More women seek treatment for alcoholism

There has been a huge increase in the numbers of wine-drinking, middle aged, professional women seeking treatment for alcohol addiction, the clinical director of the Rutland Clinic has said.

"In my view, drinking alone is a very serious symptom of possible trouble," said Stephen Rowen. ’‘We are getting more and more women in the door who are middle-aged and who have not been heavy drinkers since their teenage years.

"They are not women who have always been wild party girls, rather people who would have had an occasional drink, busy careers and families. Suddenly, they find they have a problem with drink and a lot of the reports show that wine is a major feature of that exacerbation. There is more and more of what I call late-onset alcoholism where, in a very short space of time, drinking has become a problem."

Rowen has warned that tippling alone and downing more than two glasses of wine regularly is a major warning sign for women that they may be slipping into high-risk drinking territory.

Rowen said that the clinic, one of Ireland’s foremost addiction treatment centres, was experiencing a surge in the numbers of women in their late 30s, 40s and early 50s presenting as first-time problem drinkers.

He blames a "drinking wine is harmless’’ attitude for the health time-bomb ticking for a generation of middle-class women who think nothing of sinking a bottle of wine on their own.

"Most of us wouldn’t consider drinking vodka while preparing a meal yet when it comes to wine, it is seen as harmless. There is an attitude that wine is okay and that it is good for us. But it is alcohol, and there is a lot of alcohol in a bottle of wine," he said.

"It used to be the case that, when treating women, vodka was the only drink we would ever hear mentioned, now wine is taking over that accolade."

Rowen believes that the government should follow the example of Britain and target middle aged drinkers in a campaign to highlight the dangers of alcohol. Figures indicate that for 85 per cent of the population alcohol will not cause them serious harm at any point during their lifetime.

But Rowen says that the current acceptance of wine consumption has to be tackled and he has urged the government to look at ways of highlighting the problem.

"I think we should do more," he said. "I don’t think we have a truly well developed addiction research centre in Ireland, and I think that is important. I would also like to see the government taking action and announcing, if that is what is needed, that wine is as addictive as any other type of alcohol.

"They need to educate and inform and remind and encourage the public about wine."

source: Sunday Business Post

A haven for young people who name their poison

SOME are hardened by abuse that has forced them to grow up too soon. Neglect has left others without the most basic social skills.

Their common bond — a substance habit born out of a life lived in the shadows — has brought them to the only safe space they have ever known.

In an unassuming building at the city end of Brunswick Street, Fitzroy, a drop-in centre run by the Youth Substance Abuse Service is literally saving lives.

Here, their habit does not define them. Those with adult problems, who sell their bodies on the street, can be children.

When the doors open at midday, youngsters struggling with alcoholism, inhalant abuse and other drug addictions are waiting. Some are as young as 12.

When the day program began a decade ago, heroin was the main problem. Now, overwhelmingly, it is alcohol.

The number of young people the service treats for alcohol dependency has doubled since 2001.

"We'll get daily users who can be drinking anything from a slab of beer to one, two or three bottles of spirits with very little break in between," senior program development worker Penny Rickard said.

About 30 people under the age of 21 visit daily. The centre does not allow substance use, but it is a safe place to go if users have consumed too much.

"It comes down to harm minimisation and making sure that young people are safe," said Ms Rickard. "If they think they've overconsumed or that their health or their life may be at risk, they know they can come here and we'll take responsibility and care for them."

About 80 per cent of visitors are homeless. Their substance problems often begin after early childhoods defined by physical and sexual abuse, family breakdown and neglect.

For many, the centre offers their only food for the day, a place to shower, wash clothes and make a phone call. Staff help connect them with other welfare services. A doctor who visits three times a week helps those at high risk of mental health problems, sexually transmitted infections and the myriad consequences of sleeping rough.

A common theme for children who have a background in the child protection system is a family history of substance abuse, Ms Rickard said. "These young people might be second, third, fourth-generation substance users."

Staff try to help those with the most acute addictions get specialised help, but funding for youth drug and alcohol services is limited. The Youth Substance Abuse Service, which is the largest provider in Victoria, seeing more than 1500 people a year, has just 37 residential withdrawal or rehabilitation beds and 15 supported accommodation beds across the state.

The Fitzroy day centre opens five days a week for up to six hours a day. After their evening meal, the youngsters are back on the streets. "It's heartbreaking at the end of the day, closing the doors and knowing that they may be sleeping under a bridge," Ms Rickard said.

source: http://www.theage.com.au
author: Jill Stark

Where's Cappy?

We're so busy treating symptoms, we've lost sight of the root causes

Saturday night along Vancouver's Granville Street entertainment district is a vicar's tea party compared to the downtown cores of most English cities.

It used to happen only after the pubs closed. The government thought it would fix that by letting the bars open 24 hours a day.

No prizes for guessing what happened. The drunken mayhem, the vomiting in the street, the violent public disorder, merely escalated.

Random shootings and stabbings, once rare in the United Kingdom, now occur frequently and involve ever younger victims and perpetrators.

Assorted problems stemming from this culture of binge drinking are estimated to cost the British treasury the staggering equivalent of more than $42 billion a year.

And it's not just young people causing the trouble. The government claims large numbers of older people, quaffing a couple of bottles of vino with their nightly nosh, are also endangering their health.

It would not surprise me to learn that, in this respect, there are plenty of parallels in Canada.

But what the Brits are doing about their own problem is typical of a society that has lost its bearings.

A new national strategy has been launched in Britain that involves spending $20 million to try to change people's attitudes toward booze.

My guess is that it will be about as successful as it would be to ask drunken yobs stumbling out of late-night Granville bars to be polite to one another.

Part of the UK strategy will be to label liquor in much the same way as we now attach warnings to cigarette packs.

Do you think binge drinkers will really say to one another: "No more for me -- I've had 3.4 units of alcohol already and that's more than the guidelines allow"?

The question for the Brits -- and for us, too -- is not how can we curb this bad behaviour, but what causes it in the first place.

What are the underlying faults in our society that make it attractive for so many people to blow their minds on booze or drugs?

source: The Vancouver Province

Alcohol Crisis Grips Australia

Increasingly, alcohol is enfolding Australia in its grip. A new report says that one in eight Aussies drinks at dangerous levels. Aboriginal Australians are suffering far more than most: they're twice as likely to die from the effects of drinking alcohol as their non-indigenous counterparts. The effects on the country's long-term health could be catastrophic. Phil Mercer reports from Sydney.

Australia has always had a boozy reputation, but excessive drinking is on the rise.

Doctors are warning of a surge in chronic diseases such as cirrhosis of the liver, cancers and brain disorders in the next 20 years.

Gordian Fulde, an associate professor at Sydney's St. Vincent's Hospital, says the situation is getting out of hand.

"Unfortunately, I have to admit that Australia has a massive alcohol drinking problem. It's our culture," he said. "Our society accepts it, and in some ways our society encourages it. People go out [and] instead of drinking a couple of beers or whatever, a few glasses of wine - they drink five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10 in one session, which is very, very detrimental to their health - and they do it many nights in a row."

The Australian National Council on Drugs warns in a new report that one in eight people here now consumes dangerous levels of alcohol. The council has found that 230,000 children have a parent or care-giver who drinks excessively.

The council, which is sponsored by the government, has estimated that crime, injuries and health problems associated with alcohol abuse cost Australia almost $6.5 billion every year.

Despite the warnings - and there are many of them - Australians continue to drink excessively.

Alcohol is widely available and relatively cheap here. Liquor stores and pubs have long opening hours, and drinking to the point of intoxication is socially acceptable.

"Wake up, start drinking beer, drink right through, then end up going out and having fun and partying. Been a way of life," said one man. "People around me always been drinking beers and, you know, you only live once - may as well have fun while you're doing it."

"My family's riddled with alcoholism," said another Australian. "Father died from it, friends are dying from it."

And many younger women are also heavy drinkers, preferring the so-called 'lolly drinks' or sweet-tasting mixes of spirits and soft drinks.

"Every weekend go out Friday, Saturday, drink a fair bit, yeah, out with friends," said one woman. "Two four-packs [Bacardi] Breezers, Cruisers - yeah, the lolly drinks."

If white Australia has a serious alcohol problem things are far worse for the indigenous population.

A recent report showed that alcohol abuse claims the life of an Aborigine every 38 hours. Suicide is the greatest cause of death among aboriginal men, while many women die of liver cirrhosis or strokes.

To a large extent, Aborigines have been left behind by mainstream Australian society, more than two centuries after the continent was colonized by Europeans.

Linda Burney, the first indigenous member of the New South Wales state parliament, says Aborigines have been so badly treated, it is hardly surprising so many turn to booze and drugs.


"Most people drink because there are issues in their life that are very difficult to deal with," she said. "When you understand the history of subjugation, you understand the history of oppression and you understand the nature of the relationship from time of British invasion, you come to understand just how desperate and how destitute many Aboriginal people, families and communities are, and there is a direct relationship between that and substance abuse."

Beer and wine have been outlawed in some 'dry' indigenous communities but for many the cravings remain irresistible.

Despite the gloom - and there's plenty of that - there is hope that things will one day improve.

Les Beckett is an alcoholic. He's a middle-aged Aboriginal man from the northern Australian state of Queensland who has been sober for 20 years, thanks to the support of church groups and counselors.

He has managed to conquer his demons, but those dark days of the past are never far from the surface.

Beckett used to beat his wife and neglect his family when he was in alcohol's grip.

"You know, never cared about my kids, never cared about my late wife," he said. "I'm compulsive. I'm out of control when I'm drinking. I'm a nasty piece of work when I'm drinking and I'm a sorry piece of work too, like - you know?"

St. Vincent's Professor Fulde says alcohol is condemning a growing number of Australians - both black and white - to a life of disease and illness. He says even people who don't drink excessively are doing themselves damage.

"The health problems we are storing up are massive. I mean, simply put - somebody who drinks a moderate amount of alcohol, still functional: jobs, family, all that sort of thing - has decreased immunity to infection and all these things. In other words they'll get the common cold more often, etc., so those are the softer things you can't measure," he said. "Then the liver packs up. As you get older your brain - it rots your brain. That's all there is about it. It rots your brain. So it is just absolute social suicide."

Australia's reputation as a fun-loving country that enjoys barbeques and beer still applies, but a growing number of people are falling victim to alcohol's charms.

source: Voice Of America
author: Phil Merver

Dealing with alcohol abuse: Things to know and do

In a 2006 behavioral risk study by the Centers for Disease Control, about one-third of adult Tennesseans said that they had at least one alcoholic drink in the last 30 days. More than 8 percent said they binged (drinking five or more drinks for males and four or more for females on one occasion).

Alcohol is harmful to people with certain health conditions. Pregnant women should avoid alcohol. Certain medicine should not be mixed with alcohol. Tylenol is an example.

Binge drinking can lead to serious health problems or even death.

A child of an alcoholic is about four times more likely to develop alcohol problems and also is at higher risk for other emotional problems. But a child of an alcoholic parent is not destined to be an alcoholic. More than half do not become alcoholic.

Some people use alcohol to self-treat and escape from problems. Anxiety, depression and feelings of worthlessness may be reasons for a person's use of alcohol or drugs. Alcohol might make a person feel better at first, but often makes problems worse.

Signs of a drinking problem: (1) if friends or family criticize the amount you drink; (2) if you feel bad or guilty about drinking; (3) if you have the urge to drink in the morning to steady nerves or get rid of a hangover; (4) if you hide your drinking or drink alone; (5) if you have blackouts or can't remember recent conversations after drinking; (6) if you deny drinking when others recognize you have a problem; (7) if you hide alcohol; (8) if you neglect duties; (9) if you exhibit violent behavior after drinking.

Alcoholics have common problems: (1) cravings or a big urge to drink; (2) inability to stop drinking; (3) withdrawal problems, such as nausea, shakes, sweating and anxiety after stopping alcohol; (4) feeling a need to drink more alcohol to get the "high" or "buzz" desired. Some alcoholics drink excessively at times and not at other times.

Alcoholics lack the self-control to stop drinking. Alcoholics often continue to drink even when facing big problems with work, family, or health.

Counseling and medication can help.

Medication can be used to reduce cravings and withdrawal symptoms. Medicine can also discourage drinking by making a person feel sick after drinking. Self-help groups like Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), or aa.org, have helped alcoholics find support to prevent relapses. Alcoholics have a disease that requires management throughout life.

Moderate drinking of red wine might have some health benefits for your heart. However, you can more safely reduce your chance of heart disease by exercising and eating foods that are low in fat.

What you should do:

If you have an alcoholic parent, make special efforts to protect yourself from developing problems with alcohol.

Prevent underage drinking. The risk for alcoholism is higher among people who begin to drink at an early age. Make sure alcohol is not available to young people in your household. Talk to children about the hazards of alcohol and drug abuse.

Drink moderately as an adult or not at all -- no more than one drink a day for most women and no more than two drinks a day for most men, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Department of Health and Human Services guidelines. Avoid developing the habit of drinking every day to relax.

Do not drink if you are pregnant or trying to become pregnant. Even moderate drinking can be harmful to an unborn child.

Do not drink at all if you are a recovering alcoholic. An alcoholic is never cured and can always suffer a relapse. The longer a person abstains from alcohol, the more likely he or she will be able to stay sober.

Do not drink if you plan to drive or operate equipment.

Do not drink at all if you are taking certain medications that should not be mixed with alcohol. Don't drink if you have certain medical conditions that would be made worse with alcohol, such as liver disease or anemia. And don't take acetaminophen (like Tylenol) if you have been drinking or have a hangover.

Get help from a professional if you have signs of alcoholism.

Help an alcoholic. Confront an alcoholic after a drinking incident. Do not make any threats you are not prepared to carry out. Get help from friends and professionals.

Call Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) to find a support group for yourself, a friend or a family member. Their support groups are among the most successful in helping people stay free of alcohol.

source: Memphis Commercial Appeal

Study: College Breeds Alcoholism

College can be a blast, but it can also create alcoholics.

Genetics is known to play a role in the risk of alcoholism. A new study, detailed in the June issue of the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, suggests that college attendance is conducive to and exacerbates the innate predisposition of some young adults to become heavy alcohol users.

“If your genetic makeup predisposes you toward drinking, it may be even more enhanced by attending college,” said lead scientist David Timberlake, an epidemiologist at the University of California at Irvine.

College drinkers

A 1999 Harvard University study revealed that 44 percent of college students surveyed reported engaging in binge drinking in the previous two weeks, with binge drinking defined as consumption of five drinks within two hours for men and four drinks for women. Among U.S. college students, fatal alcohol-related injuries increased from 1,500 in 1998 to more than 1,700 in 2001, according to the National Institutes of Health.

In the new study, Timberlake and his colleagues followed nearly 9,000 students, including 855 sibling pairs, from seventh grade through college, ranging from 12 to 24 years old. The students answered questions about the amount of alcohol they consumed and the regularity of binge drinking at three intervals—the start of the study, one year later and six years later.

Students who didn’t go to college downed more beer than their college-bound peers during high school, but the reverse occurred during college years. About 18 percent of college-goers reported binge drinking in their pre-college years, compared with 32 percent of their peers who didn’t attend college. But by the end of the study, 66 percent of college students reported binge drinking compared with 53 percent of their non-college peers.

In the genes

The scientists also compared the experiences of identical twins, who share the same genes, and other siblings.

For those attending college, they found the link between college attendance and an increase in alcohol consumption was significantly greater for identical twins than for other siblings.

“This suggests a greater degree of genetic influence on alcohol quantity in college pairs compared with the non-college pairs,” say the scientists in the published report of their research.

author: Jeanna Bryner, LiveScience Staff Writer

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