At the end of Boris Johnson's mayoral acceptance speech (the new mayor of London) he said the following words about starting his new job: "Let's get cracking tomorrow and let's have a drink tonight". Not exactly wise words for someone whose first London Underground promise is to call for alcohol on the Tube to be banned. No more cracking good drinks on the Tube then.

A 2001/2002 report by the World Health Organization found that, among young people in western countries who began drinking before 16 years of age, the average age of initiation was 12 years of age. A new twins study from the Netherlands has found that genetic factors appear to be involved in the early initiation of alcohol use, while common environmental factors become involved once alcohol use has begun.

Schools’ current focus on bullying prevention may be masking the serious and underestimated health consequences of sexual harassment, according to James Gruber from the University of Michigan-Dearborn and Susan Fineran from the University of Southern Maine in the US.

In a special supplement to Pediatrics, edited and sponsored by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), physicians will have access in one place to the reviews and analyses of current research on biological, behavioral, and environmental changes during childhood and adolescence that foster the initiation, maintenance, and acceleration of illegal use of alcohol by underage youth.

An Iranian court has sentenced a 22-year-old man to death for his fourth violation of the country's ban on drinking alcohol.

Doctors writing in this week’s Christmas issue of the BMJ call on the government to introduce tougher measures to reduce alcohol related harm.

Some anti-drinking advertising campaigns may be “catastrophically misconceived” because they play on the entertaining ‘drinking stories’ that young people use to mark their social identity, say researchers who have just completed a three year study of the subject.

The combination of extended wakefulness and low-dose alcohol has significant adverse effects on a person’s ability to drive, and elevates the risk of getting into a vehicular accident, according to a study published in the October 1 issue of the journal SLEEP.

The link between alcohol and aggression is well known. What’s not so clear is just why drunks get belligerent. What is it about the brain-on-alcohol that makes fighting seem like a good idea? And do all intoxicated people get more aggressive? Or does it depend on the circumstances?

Analyses of a national sample of individuals with alcohol dependence(alcoholism) reveal five distinct subtypes of the disease, according to a new study by scientists at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Increasingly, alcohol is enfolding Australia in its grip. A new report says that one in eight Aussies drinks at dangerous levels. Aboriginal Australians are suffering far more than most: they're twice as likely to die from the effects of drinking alcohol as their non-indigenous counterparts. The effects on the country's long-term health could be catastrophic.

Women should not drink alcohol while pregnant or planning to become pregnant, the Royal Australasian College of Physicians was told on May 8th in Melbourne, Australia.