Authors: Björn Hibell (CAN), Ulf Guttormsson (CAN), Salme Ahlström (THL), Olga Balakireva (NASU), Thoroddur Bjarnason (University of Akureyri), Anna Kokkevi (University Mental Health Research Institute), Ludwig Kraus (IFT)

Overall, the use of illicit drugs among 15–16-year-old school students appears to have stabilised in 2011, according to the latest European study of this group published by the European school survey project on alcohol and other drugs (ESPAD). The report, based on a 2011 survey in 36 European countries, also reveals a reduction in ‘heavy episodic drinking’ (five drinks or more per occasion). But the survey highlights country differences and the need for vigilance where cannabis, inhalant and tobacco use has been seen to rise.

Authors: Avalon de Bruijn, Esther van den Wildenberg and Anouk van den Broeck (STAP)

The following report provides a comprehensive overview of the results of the monitoring work conducted by the participating NGOs in five European countries; Bulgaria, Denmark, Germany, Italy and The Netherlands. It summarizes the individual findings of the five European countries on four different topics in alcohol marketing: trends, volume, complaints and sports sponsoring.

This report is conducted as part of the Alcohol Marketing Monitoring in Europe (AMMIE) project. AMMIE is coordinated by the Dutch Institute for Alcohol Policy (STAP) and supported by The European Centre for Monitoring Alcohol Marketing
(EUCAM).

Author: Peter Anderson (Maastricht University)

This report commissioned by the WHO Regional Office for Europe shows that there is a substantial evidence base on the effectiveness of different policies in reducing the harm done by alcohol. Policies that regulate the economic and physical availability of alcohol are effective in reducing alcohol-related harm. Enforced legislative measures to reduce drinking and driving and interventions individually directed to drinkers already at risk are also effective. The evidence shows that information and education programmes do not reduce alcohol-related harm; nevertheless, they have a role in providing information, reframing alcohol-related problems and increasing attention to alcohol on the political and public agendas. In all parts of the European Union, population-based interventions represent a highly cost– effective use of resources to reduce alcohol-related harm. Brief interventions for individual high-risk drinkers are also cost–effective, but are harder to scale up because of their associated training and manpower needs.

Authors: Edwin Horlings and Amanda Scoggins (RAND Europe)

The European Commission, Directorate-General Health and Consumer Protection (DG SANCO) has asked RAND Europe to contribute to the Commission’s impact assessment of a proposed Communication on alcohol policy. This Communication presents a comprehensive approach to combat the harmful effects of alcohol use in the European Union. RAND Europe has focused exclusively on the economic impacts of DG SANCO’s options.
This report first examines the nature and extent of the problem posed by alcohol use in Europe, which provides the rationale and focus for the associated policy initiative. Next, it developes a conceptual approach that discusses how alcohol use is linked to macroeconomic development. This approach is then used to examine the future impacts of a successful alcohol policy on a number of macroeconomic aspects.

Authors: Irmgard Eisenbach-Stangl (European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research) and Betsy Thom (Middlesex University)

Over recent years, media and policy attention has highlightened ‘binge’ drinking as a social problem which had spread across Europe. Viewed predominantly as a youth problem, the focus of concern has been on young people’s drinking and on the behaviours and harms associated with it in relation to public health, public safety and public order.
This emphasis has neglected examination of the wider issue of ‘intoxication’ and ‘intoxicated behaviours’. But to understand youthful binge drinking and associated behaviours, and to find ways of intervening to prevent or reduce harm, it is necessary to understand the prevailing concept(s) of acceptable and unacceptable forms of intoxication and intoxicated behaviours and its/their wider social and cultural determinants.