October 2006

 

keepcontrol.ca

The Reason

Youth and Drinking - In Ontario, 41% of Grade 11 students reported binge-drinking (drinking 5 or more drinks on one occasion) "at least once in the month prior to" the Ontario Student Drug Use Survey (Adlaf et al., Ontario Student Drug Use Survey, Centre for Addiction & Mental Health, 2003). Heavy drinking is associated with a constellation of other problems including driving injuries, unplanned or forced sexual activity, violence, and, as recent research points out, chronic diseases like cancer (Babor et al., Alcohol, No Ordinary Commodity, 2003).

Alcohol Messages - Alcohol promotion in Ontario is rampant. Unfortunately media messages addressing health and safety issues are rare. Currently, health messages to youth about the risks associated with alcohol relate mostly to impaired driving — and are delivered at the local level. While some regions of the province have identified messaging and campaigns which address other risks and safety strategies, there has been no coordinated provincial campaign.

Youth and Alcohol, Messages and Media (YAMM) Campaign - Health Canada has funded a two-staged provincial campaign to reduce problematic alcohol use among Ontario's English and French-speaking youth, ages 15–18, by increasing knowledge of effective strategies to reduce risk and increase safety among youth, parents, and health professionals. This two-staged campaign is set to run from October 2004 to March 2007.

The Past

Stage 1 (October 2004 – September 2005) of this campaign saw the:

Stage 2 (October 2005 – October 2006) of this campaign will see the:

The Present

This exciting initiative is quickly coming to fruition and is set for a public launch the last week of October. This campaign will be province-wide and utilize a variety of media including TV and radio ads, digital marketing, a comprehensive, interactive website, peer to peer programming, along with promotional materials including posters, t-shirts, brochures, etc. We believe this campaign is a perfect supplement or stand alone initiative to the exciting substance abuse prevention work going on throughout the province!

Want to Get Involved?

There will be an information teleconference hosted by the Alcohol Policy Network on November 9th. All community health professionals are encouraged to register for the history of the campaign and ideas for implementation into your community.

Further details including launch sites and dates, train the trainer events, and other information will follow shortly. In the meantime, stay tuned to the APOLNET Listserv or check in at www.apolnet.ca/yamm.

 

Revisions to the Liquour Licence Act

The Ontario government has proposed changing its liquour laws in an effort to protect bar patrons from date rape drugs. These changes take place after extensive consultations across the province with industry, enforcement, and public health officials.

Government Services Minister Gerry Phillips announced the proposed bill last Friday as part of an overhaul of the province's Liquor Licence Act and will introduce the proposal in the legislature on Thursday October 19, 2006.

Under the new provisions, consumers would be permitted to carry their drinks with them into washrooms and hallways, thereby hindering the opportunity for others to spike their beverages with so-called date rape drugs. Flavourless, colourless and odourless, date rape drugs are undetectable and can easily be mixed into drinks. Low doses of the drugs can cause muscle relaxation, drowsiness, disorientation, comas and loss of feeling. In higher doses, the drugs can lead to convulsions, hallucinations and death.

Bars will have to extend their liquor licences to cover the new areas.

"It's good to see there are steps being taken by the government to try to address the issue of date rape," said Nora Loreto, the vice-president of education in Ryerson's student union.