Alcohol and Drugs History Society

Books from WHO and PAHO on Alcohol and Harm

Unhappy Hours: Alcohol and Partner Aggression in the Americas, by (Editors) Kahryn Graham; Sharon Bernards; Myriam Munne; Sharon Wilsnack, June, 2009, The Pan American Health Organization, "brings to light evidence of alcohol's impact on partner aggression from 10 countries in the Americas (Argentina, Belize, Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru, Uruguay, and the United States)"

Alcohol and Injuries, Emergency Department Studies in an International Perspective, May, 2010, The World Health Organization "synthesizes the results of studies from a number of hospital emergency departments conducted in different cultural settings, including the World Health Organization s Collaborative Study on Alcohol and Injuries."

Starbucks saved the Costa Rican coffee industry

So argues an article in the Seattle Times here.

Coffee farmers in Costa Rica (book)

Deborah Sick, Farmers of the Golden Bean: Costa Rican Households, Global Coffee, and Fair Trade (revised and expanded edition; Northern Illinois University Press, 2008). Changes from original 1999 edition include a revised introduction and a new chapter on Fair Trade.

Costa Rican households and the global coffee economy (book)

Deborah Sick, Farmers of the Golden Bean: Costa Rican Households and the Global Coffee Economy (Northern Illinois UP, 1999). Anthropological study that contributes to commodity history.

Latin America's "wrong left" and drug trafficking

Jorge G. Castañeda, in the May/June 2006 issue of Foreign Affairs, counsels Washington and the international community on what they should do about "Latin America's left turn." Castañeda characterizes his "wrong left" with many "moral" problems, including the tolerance of drug trafficking.

The international community should also clarify what it expects from the "wrong left," given that it exists and that attempts to displace it would be not only morally unacceptable but also pragmatically ineffective. The first point to emphasize is that Latin American governments of any persuasion must abide by their countries' commitments regarding human rights and democracy. The region has built up an incipient scaffolding on these matters over recent years, and any backsliding, for whatever reason or purpose, should be met by a rebuke from the international community. The second point to stress is that all governments must continue to comply with the multilateral effort to build a new international legal order, one that addresses, among other things, the environment, indigenous people's rights, international criminal jurisdiction (despite Washington's continued rejection of the International Criminal Court and its pressure on several Latin American governments to do the same), nuclear nonproliferation, World Trade Organization rules and norms, regional agreements, and the fight against corruption, drug trafficking, and terrorism, consensually defined. Europe and the United States have enormous leverage in many of these countries. They should use it.

Full text here.

Coffee in Costa Rica (Book)

Patricia Vega Jimenez, Con sabor a tertulia: Historia del consumo del cafe en Costa Rica (1840-1940).  San Jose: Instituto del Cafe de Costa Rica, 2004.

Largest Global Supplier of Sugar, Cocoa and Coffee Transforms Organic Marketplace

PR Newswire reports (18 March 2005) that the world's leading merchant of cocoa, sugar and coffee, has formed Corigins, a new US-based supplier of the highest quality, traceable ingredients to the rapidly expanding organic and natural foods sector. Corigins will have access to ED&F Man's global network of 4,000 employees in 90 countries, and will provide food manufacturers with ingredients such as certified organic sugar from Costa Rica, Fair Trade and organic cocoa from Ecuador, and natural and organic sugars from around the world. Find the full story here.

A hot year for coffee? The signs look good

The Herald Tribune reports (19 March 2005) that a drop in Brazil's coffee exports and a major growth in Asia's coffee industry has put coffee prices at a 5-year high. Read the full story here.