- Residents who have had enough of gangs plaguing their area took their own action on Friday night against 60 drunk teenagers in a park. Around 20 residents living near Library Gardens, in Splott, Cardiff, confronted the youths when they started vandalising cars and throwing bottles just after 9pm and called the police. The park is a children's playground next to Moorland Primary School. Chairwoman of South Splott Residents' Association Debbie Gray said the problems had been going on in the park all summer. She said: 'Last night we had around 60 teenagers trashing the area. When we went to tackle the kids they all spilled on to the pavement. We made at least 10 phone calls to the police. We had the police helicopter, two police cars and riot van. This has been going on for four months and nothing seems to be done about it.' icWales
- The booze addiction that claimed the life of soccer idol George Best has hit record levels in Ulster. For the number of people admitted to hospital with alcoholic liver disease here has almost TREBLED in 10 years. In 1996/97, 469 admissions to acute hospitals were recorded. That figure had rocketed to 1,178 in the 12-month period ending last March. The shock statistics were the main reason behind a Department of Health decision to launch a new alcohol action plan to address binge drinking, under-age drinking and alcohol-related anti-social behaviour. The programme also aims to challenge Northern Ireland's attitude to drinking. In addition, there has been investment in rehabilitation services and educating the public on the dangers of excessive alcohol consumption. Sunday Life Northern Ireland Health Promotion Agency site on drugs and alcohol
- BRITISH drinkers are snubbing strong continental lagers, forcing brewers to launch weaker versions of them. Lagers such as Stella Artois and Beck’s, which contain about 5% alcohol, will soon be sold alongside weaker sister brands with an alcohol content of 3-4%. Beck’s Green Lemon, a citrus-flavoured beer containing 2.5% alcohol, is to be launched shortly. And Budweiser recently announced Bud Silver, a 4% beer that will be sold in a pint bottle with a “gripper” handle so as not to appear to be a wimp’s drink. The trend is being fuelled by a slump in demand for premium lagers among health-conscious drinkers. Over the past year, Tesco, Britain’s biggest supermarket chain, has seen sales of weaker lagers rise 16%. The trend has been mirrored in pubs and off licences across the country. In contrast, premium lagers have lost 3% of their market share. Timesonline
- Alcoholics Anonymous, the worldwide group that helps addicts stop drinking, may also help drive down the number of murders in a community, Canadian researchers reported on Sunday. As membership in the group in Ontario, Canada, increased between 1968 and 1991, murders there dropped off, said Robert Mann from the University of Toronto and Mark Asbridge from Dalhousie University. Research has shown there is a significant relationship between drinking and homicide in Europe, the United States and Canada, they wrote in their report, published in the October issue of Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research. But they found an increase of one AA member per 100,000 people was followed by a drop of 0.3 to 0.5 percent in Ontario's homicide rate. The relationship was only apparent when it came to men. They did not find a relationship in the case of women. Reuters
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