Fed: Here we go for another round of drinking psychiatrist

AAP General News (Australia)
04-20-2000
Fed: Here we go for another round of drinking psychiatrist

BRISBANE, April 20 AAP - Australians were failing to acknowledge the deadly impact
of alcohol at holiday times such as the Easter break, psychiatrist Dr Stephen Jurd said
today.

Dr Jurd, director of the Herbert Street Drug and Alcohol Clinic at Royal North Shore
Hospital in Sydney, said Australia had a "love affair with alcohol".

He said the long break with Anzac Day tacked on to the end of the time traditionally
spent with friends and family was likely to encourage drinking.

"In low doses - one or two drinks a day - alcohol is good for you," he said.

"But the therapeutic margin is narrow. Women who drink more than four, and men who
drink more than six drinks per day, are drinking at harmful levels."

Dr Jurd said it was estimated that 600,000 people were addicted to alcohol in Australia.

He said media coverage of drug use was often unbalanced - with for instance a grater
focus on heroin, which claimed just 737 lives last year compared to alcohol, which claimed
3,500 lives.

Alcohol was linked to road deaths, drownings, violence and suicide, he said.

AAP rr/jfs/pjs

KEYWORD: ALCOHOL

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