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."

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.

Uruguay curbs smoking in public

Uruguay has become the first country in South America to ban smoking in enclosed public places. The BBC reports.

Global wine producers prepare to lift Indian spirits

Wine makers from around the world are looking at India as an emerging market. At Mumbai's recent Great Wine Festival, wine makers from Uruguay, New Zealand, South Africa, Canada, Spain, and elsewhere used the opportunity to introduce their products and hopefully break into India's market.

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Narco-Scandal Rocks Argentina

The Narco News Bulletin reports (10 March 2005) that Néstor Kirchner, the President of Argentina, has done more to combat narco traffic in the past month than the US has done in 6 presidential terms. He has, most recently, fired a score of top military officials in a narco-scandal rocking the country. Find the full story here.

Whiskey in peril as Uruguay ponders role of state

For Reuters, Hilary Burke reported on 28 February 2005 that a new leftist government in Uruguay can't afford the paternalism of yesteryear and may open the economy to private participation in ways generations of conservative rule could not. To stimulate growth, the heavily indebted state will have to team up with the private sector. And while Uruguayans will vote to retain state control of state-owned utilities, most Uruguayans, one analyst assured, wouldn't lift a finger to keep their Mac Pay whiskey, which is notoriously bad. Find the full story here.