Drink Tax

When we think of Florida we, since we've still got that beach glow of us, think of sun, sand and fun! When we think of the University of Florida (UofF) we think of a twenty-four / seven (24/7) spring break education - a party school where education takes the back seat to sun, sand and fun. We'd be wrong. The students or we might not take education seriously at the UofF but the professors and researchers certainly do. In the news and reported by CNN, NY Times, the Washington Post, is the following suggestions to improve the conditions of all us. Raising taxes to reduce the consumption of alcohol and thereby save lives. Or by finding ways to make tomatoes more resistant to salmonella contamination.

"Doubling the current state taxes on alcohol -- which would tack on as much as 50 cents to the price of the average six-pack or bottle of wine -- could be expected to reduce alcohol-related deaths by 35 percent, fatal car crashes by 11 percent, and the rates of sexually transmitted disease by 6 percent, according to the study. Higher taxes on booze would also lead to 2 percent less violence and 1.4 percent less crime, the researchers estimate." - CNN (Health.com)

Since alcohol isn't one of the major food groups and we've never been in an accident with someone under the influence of excessive sandwiches we might be inclined to agree with the findings. We're most a group of non-drinkers and usually we save our consumption for matters of celebration such an increase would not significantly affect our way of living. If our representatives, who also have a reputation for consuming and abusing alcohol decided to go the route of taxing sin and death we doubt it will go over well for those who are large consumers.

The University of Florida (UofF) is no stranger to alcohol research reputation or not. In January the school professors released this investigations results:

Dr. Dennis Thombs / UF health researcher: “Perhaps what is going on with the drinking and driving issue is that young adults believe that energy drinks make it safer to drink heavily so they may even plan to consume energy drinks with alcohol because it makes them think it overcomes the debilitating effects of alcohol.” - University of Florida (News)

Like any good homemaker students were either stretching their alcohol consumption dollar by using higher alcoholic contented beverages and POSSIBLY less taxed non-alcoholic beverages. However since energy drinks and sodas are also not NECESSARY food group items either we still have no real negative opinions in their restrictions either. What we would LIKE to see is that such taxations be removed IF and when they result in the desired effects in reducing obesity or deaths by whatever means chosen.

 "In a study of college-aged adults exiting bars, patrons who consumed energy drinks mixed with alcohol had a threefold increased risk of leaving a bar highly intoxicated and were four times more likely to intend to drive after drinking than bar patrons who drank alcohol only." - Addictive Behaviors (April 2010)

That the University of Florida made such an investigation is important or at least possibly feel as though it was necessary for them to do so after all because:

"UF is a national leader in this area. The success of the sports drink Gatorade is well known, but it is just one of many UF products that have benefited countless people." - University of Florida (Research)

You think we just make this stuff up but we don't. Taxes to reduce use - right! That's not necessary and it'll never work you say. Higher prices DO make people consume less. We complain when its rent, mortgage, utilities, medicine, food and gas. Other than maybe the price of gas and driving less - which we never want to NOT do if it's taxes on something we don't NEED to do or use like cigarettes, alcohol or sodas. We can't really complain. We want people to smoke less, drink less, weigh less. We just don't want to HAVE to do it. We should pay MORE for the privilege IF it's a matter of life or death. OK.

"Beverages Are a Major Source of Added Sugars - Americans, especially children, eat too much added sugar. Added sugars include cane and beet sugars, honey, molasses, and corn and other syrups used for home baking and sweetening, as well as sugars commonly added to processed foods and beverages, but not the naturally occurring sugars in fruit or milk. The 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans specify a “discretionary calorie allowance” for diets that include and do not exceed the recommended amounts of each food group. This allowance can be consumed via any food or beverage, including those with added sugars. " - United States Department of Agriculture (Economic Research Service) 

It's not a new idea but its an oldie but goodie. Everything old is new again.

Shades of Mad Men, it seems that the UofF is becoming THE institution of higher learning for what makes people choose to do what they do.

"A new University of Florida study will take an in-depth look at the factors involved in treatment decisions made by people with colorectal cancer. The study is funded by a $1.2 million grant from the Bankhead-Coley Florida Cancer Research Program, administered through the Florida Department of Health." - University of Florida (News) 

While we wait for decisions from our legislators to act we only hope that local retailers and restaurateurs don't prematurely and in the interest of our health collude to increase beverage prices to protect us from ourselves. We only drink when we go out to celebrate and the more we can buy the better we'll feel. Maybe we just need to celebrate less - but hey we're doing it for the economy!

DC / NC Govt Offices Open

The District of Columbia and North Carolina state government office were both open today and while DC was under two (2) feet of snow and the federal government saw fit to close it's doors the mayor of the District of Columbia chose not to follow suit. North Carolina did not suffer under a snow storm. The city is third drunkest state in the United States and the drunkest city in our area (according to USA Today) but the city's mayor Fenty must have thought "put those people in the street behind the wheel of their vehicle." Public transportation below ground was available but above ground was limited.

“We continue to treat and plow the roadways but residents should be aware the slush and snow will refreeze and icy conditions will occur due to sub-freezing temperatures,” said Mayor Adrian M. Fenty. “Not only is more snow fallen than originally forecasted, but the cold temperatures hinder the melting efforts of the salt and brine treatments.” (DC Gov)

The number three (3) cause of death in the city is accidents according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for 2006 the most recent data. Not so for any of the other areas. For North Carolina and Virginia accidents are in fourth place as a cause of death for Maryland it's fifth place. Both snow bound Maryland and Virginia local governments closed due to inclement weather. We're not certain that this was an attempt to "thin the herd" or not.

As temperatures are forecasted to remain below freezing and are forecasted to drop further into the evening hours freezing of accumulation on sidewalks and untreated areas is a concern. “A lot of what has been plowed will refreeze,” said DPW Director Howland. “People need to be very careful when they are driving, tread carefully on sidewalks and stay indoors if possible.” Residents are again reminded to help by clearing out catch basins, assisting elderly or disabled neighbors. District snow teams do not clear alleys as part of their snow deployment plan. (DC Gov)

We're concerned that putting an accident drunk driver in a hazardous weather on the road or even on the street after Superbowl Sunday when the federal government saw fit to close was a good or even prudent decision. That'll be about as political as we'll get but we had to ask. We will admit that some of are disgruntled former employees but part of the disgrunt comes from the knowledge of crazy that of which we're aware. Mayor Fenty declared a "snow emergency" when snow levels were predicted to be ten (10) inches and under back in December 2009. When those amounts were actually doubled neither the Mayor office nor the city's website makes no announcement  of any "snow emergency." That seems crazy to us as well especially since the local government has closed with less snow and less emergency following the lead set by the federal government.

“The District is extremely proud of the men and women who have been working tirelessly throughout this unusual winter and they are ready to put it on the line again,” said Mayor Fenty. “We want to do all we can to clear city streets as soon as possible and as such are declaring a snow emergency for the city. This allows our crews to get curb-to-curb on the major corridors, which is paramount to ultimately getting the city back to regular business on Monday.” We did find this hidden on the Department of Transportation (DOT) website under the title: District Ready for Super Snow Bowl.

Maybe that's an official notice. See what we mean by crazy? That didn't come from the Mayor's office or directly from "his honor" it came from the agency responsible for cleaning up the mess. What the heck is a "snow emergency" other than an excuse to ticket hapless motorists? We hope you enjoyed your Snow Day!

DC and Drunk

We just might be seeing double but there are two (2) count them two (2) stories about the "drunkest" places in the United States and in our area - no where is as drunk as Washington DC. Actually the two articles aren't exactly the same. The first which uses data from 2007 comes from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) which rated Washington DC as the third (3rd) "drunkest" state in the nation. North Carolina ranked seventh (7th) in the state rating. None of the other local jurisdictions ranked in the NIAAA top ten (10) highlighted states. The second story or the one on the left (depending on if were seeing double or not) is a city ranking being published by Men's Health magazine but previewed by USA Today. The most recent listing includes both a number and a grade.

According to the USA Today article, here is the listing that shows how our area fared when compared to the rest of the nation:

NUMBER UNITED STATES CITY RANK 37.) 43.) 60.) 63.) 70.) 78.) 94.) Washington, DC Greensboro, NC Baltimore, MD Raleigh, NC Virginia Beach, VA Richmond, VA Durham, NC D+ C- C C C+ B- A

For our area the District of Columbia is the "drunkest" city in our jurisdiction. Thank you USA Today though we like to think of the District of Columbia as a political powerhouse, the seat of government, the home of the "three martini" lunch where our national representatives historically drank heavily and sought the favors of "painted women." Men's Health shows that while we're not the country's "drunkest" we're the "drunkest" with power and alcohol in the region. Add cigarettes and salted meat to the area mix - and you're talking all kinds of bad news. The next political movement should be, now that we've got a smokefree DC, is drink free DC.

Abstinence now but, of course, most of us don't drink and that slogan hasn't been applied to alcohol. While adults promote sexual abstinence for their teenage children we certainly wouldn't want any one to promote anything curtailing our current lifestyle decisions bad as they might be for us. At the very least we suggest taking the advice of Michael VanRooyen, an emergency medicine specialist at Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women's Hospital and an associate professor at both Harvard Medical School and the Harvard School of Public Health:

“Don’t drink and drive is the first 10 things I would remind people of,” VanRooyen said. “While everybody is worried about eating poinsettia leaves [over the holidays], the way to stay out of the Emergency Department is to not drink too much, and certainly don’t drink and drive.”

It's also a way to get all of our jurisdictions to the bottom of the top one hundred (100) "drunkest" cities in America list. That title is certainly not something that the governors, mayors or the "chambers of commerce" hope to promote to the tourists and visitors to our fair cities. They generally are the ones to suffer as a result of that title either. That's something that largely occurs to we the citizens.

Alzheimer Studies

For reason this has been the week for Alzheimer study results. None of the reports have been big surprises but there have been some surprises for those of us who hoped it wasn't so such as the older we get the more likely we are to get Alzheimer. Aunt Pearlie had knee surgery and was unable to walk the effects of less exercise increases dementia. The older we get the more likely we are to become susceptible to Alzheimer. Surviving into your nineties is no guarantee that you've avoided or do not have the alzheimer gene. Indeed your chances of succumbing to dementia increases the older you get. If we don't take care by eating less and being physically active our bodies will work against us. The problem is the older we get the more likely we are to not want to exercise.

Goldie S. Byrd, Ph.D.	Ron Petersen, M.D., Ph.D.
Ascertaining older African Americans for genetic studies /	Alzheimer's disease in the ‘oldest old’

Drinking one to two alcoholic drinks a day can delay the onset of Alzheimer only if you're a teetotaler. Increase your intake to another drink over the two a day threshold and the effects are reversed. Eat less, exercise more and you can live longer, healthier and in your right mind. That shouldn't have taken major study to reveal by now that the money has been spent - it's good to know.