The “Demon in a Bottle” story arc is to the Iron Man films what “The Dark Knight Returns” is to Batman movies: The classic storyline that likely won’t ever get the live-action, big screen treatment.

Comic Book Resources spoke to Iron Man 3 co-screenwriter and director Shane Black over the weekend at Long Beach Comic Con, who said that Tony Stark’s downward spiral into full-blown, self-destructive alcoholism won’t be a part of his film.

“No, because if we go there — it’s part of Tony’s character, but I think the ‘Demon In A Bottle’ aspect, if you go there, you really have to go there. The film then becomes about that, because the journey that involves recovering from alcoholism is an entire movie,” said Black. “I mean, I want to keep it dark and interesting and edgy and spicy and all those things, but I don’t think we want to go as far as to deal with Tony’s descent into alcoholic madness. That’s maybe not where we want to be.”

Iron Man 3 starts filming next year in North Carolina.

By Dan McCarthy//National Team High Performance Staff

Growth Hormone production and sleep are vital to an athlete’s recovery. The two are linked by the body’s need for normal sleep to produce and release growth hormone. Alcohol is a disruptive force in this relationship. However, like most disruptive forces, alcohol doesn’t just inhibit the target, HGH, but has equally harmful effects on Testosterone production as well. It would be very difficult for an athlete to recover appropriately from training, and be prepared to train optimally in the future, while regularly misusing alcohol.

Growth hormone has many positive effects on the body. Some of the most important for athletes are:

1. Increases bone density and bone strength
2. Increases muscle mass
3. Increases recovery from workout through protein synthesis
4. Stimulates the growth of all internal organs, including the brain
5. Stimulates the immune system

In order to benefit from the nighttime release of HGH, it is important for an athlete to sleep normally. However, alcohol-induced sleep is not normal. Unlike other hormones, HGH is tied to human circadian rhythms. When alcohol is consumed 1-6 hours before bedtime, it has a disruptive effect on the second-half of sleep. Alcohol can suppress the release of HGH during sleep, and decrease, or eliminate the benefits of the HGH. Additionally, when alcohol is ingested it causes a substance in the liver to be produced which is lethal to Testosterone. Testosterone, like HGH, is a key in the development and recovery of muscle tissue.

Works Cited
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. (1998, July). Alcohol and Sleep. Retrieved August 24, 2010, from Alcohol Alert: http://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/aa41.htm

University of Notre Dame. (2008). Alcohol and Athletes. Retrieved August 24, 2010, from Office of Alcohol and Drug Education: http://oade.nd.edu/educate-yourself-alcohol/alcohol-and-athletes/

Wikipedia. (2010, August 17). Growth Hormone. Retrieved August 24, 2010, from Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Growth_hormone 

Home » Local News

By EMMA PARKER BOWLES

Last updated at 4:28 PM on 30th October 2011

One of my earliest childhood memories is of my father laughing himself sick as I ran around the garden as fast as my little legs would carry me, with one of my granny’s Pekingese dogs in hot pursuit. He loved to laugh, and laughed often. He was an extremely funny man, my dad. He could make me laugh until my cheeks hurt. It is what I will remember most about him. I loved making him laugh. It wasn’t difficult, but it made me feel amazing.

He was Dad to me, but he was also known as Richard Eustace Parker Bowles and was born into immense privilege at Donnington Castle House, the family estate in Berkshire. Like his brother Andrew, who went on to marry my aunt Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, he attended Ampleforth College and Sandhurst – for all of about five minutes – before embarking on a career as a bloodstock agent and becoming known as a popular and handsome man about town.

Yet he died, aged 63, on November 29 last year, an alcoholic who had been living in a sad little flat above a carpet shop in New Milton, Hampshire. Funny to the last, he left behind instructions for his funeral: ‘Don’t start without me.’ A year on, and I have only just been able to start grieving properly.

There are no reasons for my father’s problems with alcohol, but they started around the time I was born in 1974, although he was over the moon at becoming a father for the first time. As a consequence, his marriage to my mother, also called Camilla, was brief and ended when I was still a baby. She remarried, to Charles Wood, the Earl of Halifax. I lived with them and the other children they went on to have, my brother and sister, in London.

My dad went to live in Berkshire with my grandmother Dame Ann Parker Bowles, the  Girl Guides leader who was nicknamed The Rhino because of her bravery and thick skin, and I used to visit him there.

All my childhood memories of time spent with my dad are joyously happy ones. When I was little, he was my hero. I remember sitting on his broad shoulders as he strode through Piccadilly Circus.

He always used to sing Puff The Magic Dragon by Peter, Paul and Mary, which captured my imagination and became our theme tune. (We were both indignant in later years at the suggestion that it was about marijuana.) He was Puff, I was Jackie Paper: ‘Together they would travel on a boat with billowed sail, Jackie kept a lookout perched on Puff’s gigantic tail.’

He was wonderfully irresponsible, but in those days ‘Nanny Parker Bowles’, the cherished nanny who had looked after him during his childhood, was always around to oversee proceedings.

He had a succession of bangers and named them all – The Hot Tomato, The Getaway Car. He stopped The Hot Tomato on a hill and, though my feet could barely touch the pedals, that is where he decided to teach me to drive. And then he roared with laughter as we barrelled backwards downhill.

One of my favourite memories is of us walking down a moonlit road, singing and dancing to songs from musicals. I was his little sidekick. He was Scooby-Doo, I was Scrappy-Doo. We were always getting up to mischief together. Admittedly, a lot of the memories involve pubs. And lighting his cigarettes for him. I smoked my first cigarette aged about nine when I decided to take a few puffs of one of his. All he said was: ‘I said light it, not smoke it.’ The taste put me off smoking for a very long time.

The only time I ever remember him getting angry with me was when I first became aware of lung cancer; I took his Silk Cut cigarettes out of the packet, snapped them all in half and threw them out of the car window. Normally we had a system for my behaviour involving yellow or red cards, as in football. I had a great many yellow cards, but I never did get a red card.

At some point I started to realise that maybe he was a little too laid-back and irresponsible. Let’s just say there were a couple of potentially fatal moments. But I was very protective and loyal to my dad and never told anyone.

His career as a bloodstock agent having long since ended, he spent his days looking after my grandmother’s house until she died in 1987, when I was 13 and a boarder at Queen Margaret’s School in North Yorkshire. His elder brother Simon sold my grandmother’s house. Shortly afterwards, Dad’s close friend Elizabeth died. She had been the only woman in his life after my mother. I think something inside him broke and he lost the will to live a little bit.

Our whole relationship was based around drinking in pubs together, or long, drunken phone calls which were punctuated with ‘just hang on a minute’ as one of us went off to refill a glass. 

Though I understand now that it was a very dark period for my dad which triggered a downward spiral into serious alcoholism, I did not at the time. When he stopped calling or inviting me to spend time with him during that period, I was devastated, especially when a nanny told me the reason I didn’t see more of him was because he didn’t love me any more.

At the time, I believed her. I can say this without an ounce of self-pity because I have an extremely loving and supportive mum, stepfather and brother and  sister whom I adore. My heart did harden to him a little. That was my way of dealing with it.

He still called me without fail on my birthday and at Christmas, normally singing the Stevie Wonder song I Just Called To Say I Love You and then hanging up, which used to drive me mad. He would send me weird and wonderful gifts, like a £10 note in a mousetrap held open by Sellotape, or a funny postcard: ‘I have seen a very nice present in the shop for you. I will go back and get it under the cover of moonlight with a brick.’

In my rebellious teenage years, I practically dined out on his antics.  It rather fitted in with my image as  a misfit. When I was asked about my father I would gaze enigmatically (or at least so I thought) into the distance and whisper: ‘He is an alcoholic.’

Oscar Wilde said: ‘Children begin by loving their parents. As they grow older they judge them, sometimes they forgive them.’ And boy, did I judge my father, because I felt he wasn’t a father at all. There were times, when I was a teenager and his drinking was at its worst, that I was so mortified I couldn’t wait to get away. Depending on which point of his drinking cycle I saw him at, he was either just embarrassing to be with in public, or – towards the end of a binge – downright mean.

He tried to get sober. He went to Closereach House in Plymouth in 1992 and wrote to me during the treatment, a lot of which concerned the effect of his drinking on me. He admitted: ‘I was so busy chasing the next drink that  I didn’t give a damn about anybody  at all,’ and wrote of hating himself because of the damage he had caused. He promised to win his battle so one day I would respect him again.

I received his letter just before my A-levels but to my eternal shame I did not respond. He completed his treatment but the disease was just too strong, and he relapsed.

When I discovered the numbing effects of alcohol myself, being around him stopped being a problem. I was 19 when I developed an alcohol problem which I’ve no doubt I inherited from Dad. Our whole relationship was based around drinking in pubs together, or long, drunken phone calls which were punctuated with ‘just hang on a minute’ as one of us went off to refill a glass.

He’d find it hilarious when I’d tell him about my short-lived relationships. He called me ‘the Praying Mantis’  and once asked: ‘Why do none of your boyfriends make it into the paperback edition?’ We had a lot of nicknames for each other. He used to call me ‘Horror’ or ‘My Cub’.

I think because of his life-long struggles, his belief that he was a failure and the demons he wrestled with, he felt his life was not worth celebrating: a life wasted. He was wrong.

He was living in New Milton on the edge of the New Forest by now. He had only a few friends left, who never deserted him no matter how appalling his behaviour: his oldest and dearest friends, who remembered and treated him as the man they had always known, not the one they had last spoken to.

However, the more my alcoholism progressed and the more out of control my life became, the less I spoke to or visited him. I had become self-obsessed, self-pitying and selfish.

When I managed to get sober some eight years ago at the age of 26 (and by the grace of God, I am still sober) I began to understand that alcoholism is a disease and an addiction,  not a lifestyle choice. I finally understood that it wasn’t because he didn’t love me, or wasn’t interested in me.

But for the first five years my sobriety was fragile, and the thing that threatened it the most was seeing my father. Now was the time that I abandoned him, and I will always feel guilty about that. I wrote him many letters saying I loved him and would support him if he could get sober, but he couldn’t handle it and would send them back.

When he died he wanted to be cremated. He is supposedly in an urn underneath his church’s altar, waiting to be buried. I think he is actually on a mantelpiece, near the drinks cabinet. Don’t blame me for the  gallows humour: I inherited it from him as a knack of deflecting pain by making wisecracks.

In fact, he didn’t even want a headstone. I think because of his life-long struggles, his belief that he was a failure and the demons he wrestled with, he felt his life was not worth celebrating: a life wasted. He was wrong. He brought joy and laughter to the lives of so many. A packed church filled with his many, many friends at the memorial service was testimony to that. A church filled with broken hearts.

Even my aunt, the Duchess of Cornwall, took time out of her strictly regimented schedule to attend. She always said he was the nicest out  of the brothers (sorry Andrew). They used to spend hours doing the crossword across the kitchen table on Sundays.

She came, even though he disgraced himself when he was taken to the pub by a journalist who fed him drinks until he said mean things about her which were published in a newspaper. But she knows what everyone who ever met him knows: that he was kind, fiercely loyal and giving.  If a friend in need called up in the middle of the night, he would leap straight into his car and drive across the country to be with them.

Even if you were a stranger, he wouldn’t just give you the shirt off his back, he would have cut out his own kidney if you needed it. Strangers really were friends he hadn’t made yet. He was interested in and talked to anyone and everyone.

He was also enormously intelligent, quick-witted and hilariously funny. And he was known for his letters: he was a writer, you see (much better than me), and they revealed his brilliant mind.

One of my favourite qualities about my father was that he was wonderfully non-judgmental. When I was arrested and put in jail for the night last year, I was allowed one phone call, and the person I most wanted to call was him. Not that he would have had the money to bail me out, but he would probably have laughed and said: ‘Hang in there kid, I love you,’ which would have got me through that long dark night.

I really am old enough to have got over that by now. But I had a father and I had some great times with him, which is more than some people, and for that I realise I am blessed.

 

It was only for a traffic violation that I had forgotten to go to court for, and when I went in front of the judge all charges were dismissed. But my dad would have loved hearing my story about my cellmates and the jailhouse bus. He was pretty unshockable and always made me feel better about my inadequacies and shortcomings. He appreciated naughtiness and had a great appetite for mischief. He celebrated my quirks and idiosyncrasies, and taught me that things are always a matter of perspective. The old goat was very wise.

Do I have some residual damage caused by my father? Maybe a little – a chronic fear of abandonment means I keep men at arm’s length, although at the age of 37, I really am old enough to have got over that by now. But I had a father and I had some great times with him, which is more than some people, and for that I realise I am blessed.

I was also blessed that I was able to say goodbye. When I arrived at the hospital, I did not recognise him. My dad was built like a rugby player,  6ft 3in with broad shoulders, but the man lying in the bed seemed little and shrunken. He was asleep when I arrived, so I sat next to his bed until he opened his eyes. He just stared at me as though he couldn’t believe I was there. And then his hand with its papery thin skin came out from under the sheets and he said: ‘I love you.’

For the next three days and nights, I lay at his side. The battle-scarred lion and his cub. When he died on the fourth night, it was in my arms. I know he is, at last, at peace. I just hope somehow he knows that I love him very, very much.

Al-Anon Family Groups gives support to those affected by  others who drink alcohol.  www.al-anonuk.org.uk

 

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — They were winning games (six in a row), climbing the polls (as high as No. 15) and gaining fans (bandwagon close to stuffed). No Illinois team had started so well in 60 years.

Then, a smack in the face (Ohio State 17, Illinois 7) and a punch to the gut (Purdue 21, Illinois 14).

Pride turned to panic. The message boards lit up with nasty rifts on the team and the coaching staff. Gloom and doomers predicted a five-game losing streak. At least.

Is the season over? Should the Illini pack their gear away and start thinking about 2012? Not just yet.

There is a way to save the year and it won’t take 12 steps. More like five. Follow the conditions below and the fans will come back, the negative chatter will quiet and the players will start feeling the way they did in September.

1. Beat Penn State

Kind of obvious, given that it’s the next game. Wins against Penn State have been rare for Illinois. Just four all time in 18 games. And only one (in 2010) at State College.

Penn State has one loss, against No. 2 Alabama. Nobody has played the Crimson Tide closer. The once-struggling Penn State offense seems to have turned the corner. The defense is as good as ever.

It’s an old Penn State team (12 senior starters, six junior starters) with an even older coach (octogenarian Joe Paterno).

Ask the current Illinois players and they will tell you last year’s win was the biggest of their careers. And that Penn State team wasn’t as good as the current squad.

So, winning back to back, with the following Saturday off, would set the Illini up for the final three games.

“That would get us back on the right track,” cornerback Tavon Wilson said. “We feel like we are capable of beating this team.”

“It would get our momentum back and try to hit that streak again,” tight end Evan Wilson said. “That’s what we need, and I think that’s what we’re going to do.”

A win today legitimizes the 2010 victory and this year’s 6-0 start.

“It would solidify that last year wasn’t a fluke,” Illinois defensive end Whitney Mercilus said. “That we can contend with anybody even though we lost two straight games, which we shouldn’t have. It will allow our confidence to bounce back.”

The place won’t be quite full. But there still will be 105,000-plus at Beaver Stadium. With no games at Ohio State or Michigan this season, it will be almost double the size of any crowd Illinois has worked in front of this season.

“If you can’t get excited about playing at Happy Valley, I don’t know that you can get excited about college football,” Illinois coach Ron Zook said. “It’s a lot of fun. What better opportunity for us to do the things we know we’re capable of doing.”

2. Change up the offense

Nothing wholesale. You don’t drop Nathan Scheelhaase, who is third in the Big Ten in passing efficiency, fourth in passing and fifth in total offense. You don’t bench A.J. Jenkins, who is on pace to have the best season for a receiver in Illinois history.

But you also don’t ignore the problems. In the losses to Ohio State and Purdue, Illinois was shut out for the first three quarters. Most of the credit goes to the defenses. But some of the blame falls on the Illinois offense.

Too predictable?

Zook wants to give senior Jason Ford a greater role. In four games this season, he has carried the ball 11 times or fewer. He got 83 yards out of his 10 carries against Purdue.

“He’s running more physical, playing harder, making us look better,” offensive tackle Jeff Allen said.

The Illini have shown little in the way of gadget plays this season. Reverses, flea flickers, etc., can slow defenses. Give them something else to think about.

The Illini have put another player in opponents’ minds. For the first time in the conference season, Illinois used a quarterback other than Scheelhaase during the Purdue game. Freshman Reilly O’Toole played for the first time since the Western Michigan game. He hit his first four passes for 28 yards. His fifth pass was intercepted, and he didn’t play another down.

O’Toole is expected to play again today. He needs more than one series. Maybe a couple.

“He’s definitely in the plans,” Petrino said. “I think it helps relieve the pressure from Nathan, so he doesn’t have to make every play the whole game.”

“It will depend a little bit how the game goes,” Zook said. “Reilly did exactly what we thought he would do (against Purdue).”

Assume that Zook means everything but the interception. It won’t be the last for O’Toole in college. He won’t be perfect.

“You never want to, but it’s bound to happen some time,” O’Toole said. “At that point in time, we really needed the score. It was kind of a bummer that I had to throw it then.”

Petrino is seeing improvement in the former Wheaton Warrenville South star.

“The thing about both him and Nathan is they are both winners and they both care a bunch,” Petrino said.

3. Fix the special teams

Want to make an Illinois fan groan? Mention the Illinois punt, coverage and return teams.

In the national rankings, Illinois is 100th in kickoff coverage, 102nd in net punting, 116th in punt returns and 118th in kickoff returns.

Against Purdue, punter Justin DuVernois dropped the snap and was smothered at the Illinois 14. The Boilermakers scored four plays later for a 21-0 lead.

“When you drop a ball and give up a touchdown, that’s a disconcerting moment,” Zook said.

The punt returns have been almost as problematic. Illinois averages 1.82 yards per attempt. Mississippi, the national leader, averages 27.75 per attempt and has scored two touchdowns.

Sophomore Ryan Lankford has all 17 of the Illinois punt returns. Zook wants him to not turn the plays into a negative.

“The one thing that I’ve told Ryan to do is don’t be so worried about making plays,” Zook said. “Fair catch it. I think you’ve got to keep working, keep pushing.”

Illinois hasn’t returned a punt for a touchdown in eight years. It hasn’t returned a kickoff for a touchdown in three.

4. Pull an upset

Illinois is a five-point underdog against Penn State today. The number figures to be bigger Nov. 12 when Michigan visits Memorial Stadium. And bigger still when Wisconsin comes to town Nov. 19.

Illinois hasn’t won a game this season as an underdog.

Winning when you aren’t supposed to is more than just a season-saver, it’s a program-builder. You gain credibility locally, regionally and nationally when you beat a team with a number to the left (national ranking).

It has been a while since Illinois spoiled somebody else’s season. But the bottom-loaded schedule provides an opportunity.

Win the rest of their games and the Illini might even slip into the Big Ten title game.

“We’re not out of it at all,” Scheelhaase said. “Our conference, there’s a lot of ups and downs. There are teams that go on runs and teams that may struggle at times.”

5. Catch a break

Against Indiana, Zook went for a two-point conversion while leading by seven in the first half. The card all coaches carry says to kick the extra point. The two-point conversion failed. Had it worked, Zook would have been praised for the decision. Instead, it became a national story of misguided decision-making.

Against Ohio State in the fourth quarter, Illinois trailed by 10. On fourth down, rather than kick a field goal to set up an onside kick, the Illini decided to throw a pass. Scheelhaase and Jenkins looked like new teammates, with the ball thrown at the receiver’s feet. Jenkins didn’t hear the right call, though Scheelhaase took the blame.

If Illinois scores a touchdown on the play, or even converts the first down, Zook is given pats on the back. Instead, his own fans scream at him as he walks off the field.

Early in the third quarter against Purdue, Illinois faces a fourth and 3 at the Boilermaker 38. Zook decides to punt, again drawing the wrath of Illinois fans. On the way off the field, one yells, “How many points is a punt worth?”

In the two losses, Illinois couldn’t catch a break. Early in the Ohio State game, quarterback Braxton Miller fumbled deep in his own territory. But the Buckeyes jumped on it.

Against Purdue, Illinois appeared to have quarterback Caleb TerBush sacked on a third and 21. The game was 0-0 at the time. TerBush wriggled away and completed a 32-yard pass. Four plays later, Purdue scored and never trailed again.

“We’ve got to try to put guys in better positions,” Illinois defensive coordinator Vic Koenning said. “We missed two sacks. One was critical.

“We’ve got to create negative plays, and we’ve got to create takeaways.”

The guys on defense received the message.

“We could have helped our offense tremendously these past two weeks if we created more turnovers,” cornerback Tavon Wilson said.

Wilson already has a touchdown this season, returning a fumble for a score against Indiana. That’s the kind of play the Illini are looking for against Penn State.

“If we score on defense that gives us a greater chance to win the game,” linebacker Jonathan Brown said. “A score on defense would really spark the team. Watching great defenses like the Ravens, that’s a goal they go out and do.

“We haven’t been flying around like we should be. If we go out there and fly around, plays will come to us.”

Domestic violence has been linked to binge drinking, as binge-drinkers are twice as likely to be violent towards their p… Read Moreartners, a study by New Zealand’s University of Otago reveals.

Heart disease recovery in women may be aided by drinking alcohol, according to a new study.

Researchers at Harvard Medical School analyzed data from over 1,000 women and found that women who drank between a few alcoholic drinks per month to over three per week in the year leading up to a heart attack were more likely to live longer than those who didn’t drink at all. This supports previous research indicating that alcohol could be good for the heart.

“One thing that was interesting was that we didn’t see differences among different beverage types,” said Joshua Rosenbloom, lead author of the study, as quoted by Reuters.

“The most recent evidence suggests that it’s the alcohol itself that’s beneficial.”

Reuters quoted James O’Keefe, a cardiologist at St. Luke’s Health System, as saying, “One drink a day is a really good target, assuming that a person can be disciplined about that.”

At the 10-year point, follow-up data indicated that 44 out of every 100 women who drank no alcohol had died, but only 25 out of every 100 light drinkers and 18 out of every 100 heavy drinkers had died. In total, there was a 35 percent reduced risk of death among women who drank compared to those who didn’t.

The research was published in the American Journal of Cardiology.

The Farley Center works with U.S. Military to help returning veterans battling drugs and alcohol as a result of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) admist chages in addiction definition – now considered a brain disease.

Williamsburg, VA (PRWEB) October 28, 2011

The Farley Center at Williamsburg Place is working currently with U.S. Military to help returning Veterans battling drugs and alcohol as a result of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), an evolving conversation admist important recent changes to the very definition of the word “addiction”. It is no secret that thousands of returning veterans are coming home with physical and emotional pains and seeking self-medication with drugs and alcohol. What may offer additional hope for those seeking treatment is a program tailored specifically for veterans and an important change to the definition of addiction by new American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM). The organization has officially recognized that addiction is not solely related to substance misuse and is, in fact, a chronic brain disease.

The Farley Center at Williamsburg Place is working with our military branch leadership and bases to confidentially treat our men and women in uniform without negatively affecting career advancement by a tarnished record. This unique program is successfully addresses the unique needs such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) that aren’t part of traditional recovery programs.

“While the change in the ASAM Addiction definition may not instantly change the perception of chemical dependency within Military culture, it is a positive step in removing the shame that is sometimes associated with treatment.” states Jerry Von Poks, Military Liaison at the Farley Center.

TRICARE Partnership

The Farley Center has recently established a partnership with TRICARE, a major component of the Military Health System. This move offers coverage to veterans and their families at the civilian treatment center which previously would have required them to be private pay,

About the Farley Center at Williamsburg Place

The Farley Center at Williamsburg Place is a leading addiction treatment program featured on “The Early Show” on CBS, “Good Morning America”, The New York Times, and other national media outlets. The Farley Professional Lecture Series is a monthly event that disseminates key advances in substance abuse treatment innovations to addiction professional.

For more information, please visit http://www.farleycenter.com

###

Gina Thorne
The Farley Center at Williamsburg Place
(800) 582-6066
Email Information

News Release

Federal grant recognizes UB’s national leadership role in addiction medicine

Release Date: October 26, 2011

BUFFALO, N.Y. — A new University at Buffalo program, supported by more than $900,000 in federal funds, will help translate medical research on alcoholism and other addictions into the best treatments for addicted patients.

“This grant recognizes UB’s national leadership position in alcohol abuse and addiction medicine,” says Richard D. Blondell, MD, director of addictions research and professor of family medicine in the UB School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. “With this grant, we are addressing the significant need to develop innovative ways to train both primary care doctors and addiction specialists.”

The grant from the National Institute on Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse (NIAAA) is funding physicians and researchers in UB’s Department of Family Medicine to establish a National Addiction Medicine Residency Assistance Council. The council will be made up of leaders in the field of addiction medicine who will develop written curricula and national standards of excellence for graduate medical education programs in addiction medicine. The goal is to establish a core of post-graduate addiction medicine education programs in academic medical centers throughout the U.S.

According to Blondell, there is a shortage of academically oriented addiction medicine physicians qualified to conduct clinical research on addictions, to translate this research into practice, and to teach medical students and a wide range of residents about addiction in academic medical centers.

“The grant is designed to address the spectrum of addictions, from alcohol, which is America’s number one substance abuse problem, to illicit substances and prescription drugs,” says Blondell. “The purpose is to educate primary care doctors as well as emergency medicine physicians and, frankly, physicians in all the specialties on how to treat their patients who are already addicted, while also preventing non-addicted patients from developing addictions,” he says.

“Part of that education involves connecting the dots,” says Blondell. “If a person with an addiction is going into the hospital for orthopedic surgery, the surgeon needs to know about the addiction. Right now, there is no established infrastructure for disseminating that information.”

Blondell, who chairs the Residency Accreditation Review Committee of the American Board of Addiction Medicine Foundation, directs the UB Department of Family Medicine’s addiction residency, one of just 9 postgraduate addiction medicine residencies in the U.S. that were accredited earlier this year.

He is an expert on alcohol dependence and has conducted research designed to improve outcomes after patients are discharged from detoxification programs; he also studies new pharmacotherapeutic approaches to various types of addictions.

Blondell is co-principal investigator on the grant with Jeffrey H. Samet, MD of the Boston University School of Medicine.

The University at Buffalo is a premier research-intensive public university, a flagship institution in the State University of New York system and its largest and most comprehensive campus. UB’s more than 28,000 students pursue their academic interests through more than 300 undergraduate, graduate and professional degree programs. Founded in 1846, the University at Buffalo is a member of the Association of American Universities.

Related story: UB’s Addiction Medicine Fellowship One of First Accredited by American Board of Addiction Medicine Foundation at http://www.buffalo.edu/news/12549

WINNIPEG—The largest dry community in Manitoba is loosening its liquor laws despite fears from some long-time residents that allowing bars to operate in the traditionally Mennonite city will lead to public intoxication, alcoholism, and drunk-driving.
Residents in the southeastern city of Steinbach voted Wednesday night to allow bars and cocktail lounges to operate within city limits.

Some 70 per cent of voters in the community of about 13,000 also agreed to grant liquor licences to private clubs.
Unlike previous debates on the city’s liquor laws, Steinbach Mayor Chris Goerzen said there was very little passionate discussion.
In 2003, barely 51 percent of Steinbach voters cast ballots in favour of allowing restaurants to serve alcohol with meals.
As recently as 2007, voters decided against against allowing easier access to liquor.
But Goerzen said the community is changing.
“We’ve had a lot of immigration, we’ve had a lot of people moving into our city,” he noted.
“We’re the fastest growing urban centre in Manitoba and probably one of the fastest in Western Canada,” Goerzen added.
“With that, there are obviously cultural changes, too.”
Although numerous attempts to overturn Steinbach’s booze ban failed from the 1970s onward, liquor laws in Manitoba’s so-called Bible belt slowly have been relaxing in the last decade.
Residents of Winkler, for instance, voted in favour of cocktail lounges and licensing private clubs in 2003.
Five years later, Steinbach’s first liquor store opened.
Aside from dry native reserves in the province’s north, Steinbach was the largest hold-out left in Manitoba.
But some aren’t happy about the changes. Les Magnusson has lived in Steinbach for 30 years and said he’s worried having bars and lounges will lead to trouble.
As the city’s former mayor, he fought against lifting the city’s liquor ban in 2003 because of concerns it would change the character of the community.
Now, he said he’s worried having bars and lounges will mean public intoxication, alcoholism, and accidents caused by drunk driving.
“I just don’t want to see people walking down the street drunk,” Magnusson said, noting he’s seen too many lives destroyed by alcohol.
Still, those who argued to lift the ban on bars say it might even make the community safer. Despite the lack of bars in Steinbach, Goerzen conceded people are drinking alcohol.
“If they have to drive somewhere to do that, it’s less safe than if they can stay in their own community and be safe about it and be responsible,” he reasoned.

WINNIPEG — The largest dry community in Manitoba is loosening its liquor laws despite fears from some long-time residents that allowing bars to operate in the traditionally Mennonite city will lead to public intoxication, alcoholism and drunk-driving.

Residents in the southeastern city of Steinbach voted Wednesday night to allow bars and cocktail lounges to operate within city limits. Some 70 per cent of voters in the community of about 13,000 also agreed to grant liquor licences to private clubs.

Unlike previous debates on the city’s liquor laws, Steinbach Mayor Chris Goerzen said there was very little passionate discussion.

In 2003, barely 51 per cent of Steinbach voters cast ballots in favour of allowing restaurants to serve alcohol with meals. As recently as 2007, voters decided against against allowing easier access to liquor. But Goerzen said the community is changing.

“We’ve had a lot of immigration, we’ve had a lot of people moving into our city,” he said. “We’re the fastest growing urban centre in Manitoba and probably one of the fastest in Western Canada. With that, there are obviously cultural changes, too.”

Although numerous attempts to overturn Steinbach’s booze ban failed from the 1970s onward, liquor laws in Manitoba’s so-called Bible belt have been slowly relaxing in the last decade.

Residents of Winkler, Man., voted in favour of cocktail lounges and licensing private clubs in 2003. Five years later, Steinbach’s first liquor store opened.

Aside from dry native reserves in the province’s north, Steinbach was the largest hold-out left in Manitoba.

But some aren’t happy about the changes.

Les Magnusson has lived in Steinbach for 30 years and said he’s worried having bars and lounges will lead to trouble. As the city’s former mayor, he fought against lifting the city’s liquor ban in 2003 because of concerns it would change the character of the community.

Now, he said he’s worried having bars and lounges will mean public intoxication, alcoholism and accidents caused by drunk driving.

“I just don’t want to see people walking down the street drunk,” Magnusson said. “We’ve been in the city 30-some years and this year is the first time I’ve seen somebody walking down the street drunk . . . I just don’t want to see more of that.”

Magnusson said he’s seen too many lives destroyed by alcohol.

“I’ve been around too many accidents where liquor has been involved,” he said. “It only takes one drink to start, to become an alcoholic.”

Still, those who argued to lift the ban on bars say it might even make the community safer. Despite the lack of bars in Steinbach, Goerzen said people are drinking alcohol.

“If they have to drive somewhere to do that, it’s less safe than if they can stay in their own community and be safe about it and be responsible,” he said.

Wednesday’s vote had unanimous approval from city council and came about largely due to pressure from Boston Pizza, which wanted to build a restaurant and lounge in the town. Steinbach Curling Club also wanted a liquor licence for a private club.

Steinbach city council still will vote to officially approve the liquor law changes in December, but Goerzen said that is a formality since the referendum results are binding.