The 1993 General Social Survey II: alcohol problems in Canada.

Rates and correlates of problems associated with the use of alcohol are reported from the 1993 General Social Survey in Canada. Approximately 1 in 11 drinkers (9.2%) reported that drinking has had an adverse effect on his or her social life, physical health, happiness, home life or marriage, work, or finances in the past year. The most commonly reported problems concerned physical health (5.1%), and financial position (4.7%). Approximately one in eight drinkers (12.9%) had driven a car within an hour after consuming two or more drinks in the previous year. Furthermore, more than two of every five respondents reported that they had experienced some problem due to other people's drinking. In a multivariate analysis, age, marital status, gender, religious attendance and employment status were the strongest predictors of problem drinking. The number of heavy drinking occasions is a stronger predictor of drinking problems than is overall level of consumption.

The 1993 General Social Survey I: alcohol use in Canada.

Rates and correlates of alcohol use are reported from the 1993 General Social Survey, a household telephone survey of 10,385 Canadians carried out by Statistics Canada. Continuing a recent trend, alcohol use has declined. The portrait of the Canadian who is most likely to drink and drink heavily is that of a young adult male who is not married, relatively well-off, and rarely or never attends religious services. In a multivariate analysis of the combined impact of sociodemographic factors on drinking and drinking levels, it was found that the frequency of religious attendance and age were the strongest predictors of current drinking. Gender was the strongest predictor of volume of alcohol consumption, while religious attendance, age, marital status and employment status were also significant predictors.

The impact of marijuana decriminalization: an update.

The available evidence indicates that the "decriminalization" of marijuana possession had little or no impact on rates of use. Although rates of marijuana use increased in those U.S. states which reduced maximum penalties for possession to a fine, the prevalence of use increased at similar or higher rates in those states which retained more severe penalties. There were also no discernable impacts on the health care systems. On the other hand, the so-called "decriminalization" measures did result in substantial savings in the criminal justice system.

The structure of the alcohol industry as it relates to transportation issues.

The alcoholic beverage industry has undergone marked changes in its structure over the past several decades, and these changes have important implications to drinking and driving problems. In Canada and elsewhere, the industry has been generally transformed from a large set of small firms owned by entrepreneurs to a very small set of large international corporations with extensive and complex intercorporate connections. After describing trends in alcohol consumption and patterns of drinking, this paper examines the structure of the beverage alcohol industry in Canada. It is found that the distilling and brewing industries are highly concentrated and oligopolistic, while viticulture is more fragmented and regional in character. With regard to impact on drinking and driving problems, there are both positive and negative effects. On one hand, barriers to entry into the market are high and competition thereby restricted, thus avoiding certain excesses associated with fierce competition. Further, the large distillers and brewers, being able to afford advertising outlays and the temporary unprofitability necessary to introduce new products, have introduced lower alcohol content beverages which may eventually have a positive impact on drinking and driving incidents. On the other hand, there is little doubt that the industry structure greatly facilitates the promotion of alcohol consumption and, by contributing to the increased exposure of drivers to alcohol, thus exacerbates drinking and driving problems.