Between the trauma of war and the cold and darkness associated with living in Alaska, Fort Wainwright soldiers have a special predisposition to drink. As members of the military and as Alaska residents, the more than 6,500 soldiers stationed at the far north military post are simultaneously part of two populations with histories of high […]
Finding a safe place: Searching for a solution to handling public inebriates in protective custody
Taking incapacitated inebriates off the streets and putting them into protective custody might seem like a simple act of compassion, a lifesaver in Alaska’s cold climate enshrined in state law, but it comes with some problems. Among the issues that the state’s behavioral health advocates and public officials are wrestling with in 2016: How do […]
Voluntary temporary abstinence from alcohol during “Dry January” and subsequent alcohol use.
In bivariate analysis, success during Dry January was predicted by measures of more moderate alcohol consumption and greater social DRSE at baseline. Multivariate analyses revealed that success during Dry January was best predicted by a lower frequency of drunkenness in the month prior to Dry January. Structural equation modeling revealed that participation in Dry January was related to reductions in …
Alaska law on underage drinking could see major change
On a cold Friday night earlier this month, Fairbanks Police Department officers pulled up to a South Fairbanks home in response to a report of an assault. A 19-year-old had been heavily drinking and had allegedly attacked a family member. The teen would later record a preliminary breath-alcohol content of .260, which is more […]
Alaska law makes it harder to obtain student behavior data
The Alaska Legislature in 2012 passed a bill to measure the performance data of every school in the state, allowing administrators and legislators to track the success of programs and interventions at the school level. But at the same time the state is making it easier to track school performance, it also is making […]
Intervention with a purpose combats underage drinking
Jaalen Phillips, left, and Ransom DuBois, have trouble keeping their balance while walking a line wearing Fatal Vision Simulation Goggles, goggles used to demonstrate alcohol impairment as a prevention technique, during lunch at Lathrop High School on Wednesday, October 28, 2015. Kevin Illingworth was first brought home by police officers when he was 7 years […]
Project will explore the impact alcohol has had on community
It’s been six years since the Daily News-Miner last took a close look at the community impact of alcohol abuse. The four-part series the newspaper produced that year focused on the continuing effort to combat the high presence of regular public inebriates in downtown Fairbanks. That series itself was a follow-up to a 2003 […]
Preventing underage drinking takes more than scare tactics
In 2008, the Australian government aired a television public service announcement in which a teenager who drank too much kills his own friend with a punch to the head. Another of the ads showed a teenage girl who got drunk at a party having sex on the lawn while dozens of her peers look on […]
College time is a risky time for young adults
Although much of the attention on underage drinking focuses on students of high school age, it’s the years that follow when alcohol use begins to soar. About a quarter of 17-year-olds reported drinking in the previous month in 2013, when the most recent National Survey on Drug Use and Health was conducted by the federal […]