I’m reading an interesting book on drugs – and our differing attitudes to say, the ‘crazed’ heroin addict, as compared to the ‘harmless’ boozer. What’s also striking are the ways in which we can conspire to create a climate of addiction. In ‘Matters of Substance’, Griffith Edwards lists ‘seven ways to create a drug epidemic’.  These are as follows; 1.Place the target population under severe strain.  Aim to damage family and social relationships, create a gulf between rich and poor, destroy community and alienate ... Read More

‘Drunkorexia.’ It’s a silly term that was originally coined to describe the behaviour of skinny celebrities who appear to survive on nothing but booze. However, such behaviour is not contained within Holywood. The word is now used to describe someone using the same methods as anorexia or bulimia – restricting food intake to reserve calories for alcohol and binge drinking. Unsurprisingly, this is most common at college – but though the behaviour may start here, it doesn’t necessarily end with graduation. Certainly, it was a tactic I ... Read More

An article in today’s Daily Mail (29 November), suggests that our binge-drinking culture is creating ‘a generation of aggressive and out-of-control women’. According to the British Association of Anger Management, the number of women found guilty of murder, vicious assault or other attacks has risen by 81 per cent since 1998.  As Simon Lawton Smith of the Mental Health Foundation claims, ‘girls face a new generation of potential triggers for problems such as premature sexualisation, commercialisation and alcohol ... Read More