Alcoholism

SUBSTANCE ABUSE/ Junkies and alcoholics never learned capacity for self-care, according to leading expert

Second in a two-part series on crime and violence among today's youth.

Some people dismiss junkies and alcoholics as weak characters who live only for happy hour and deserve scorn for the misery their self- destructive behaviour inflicts on others.

But, according to a leading expert on addiction, their condition likely has much less to do with selfish hedonism than with self- medication gone awry.

Back from depths of despair: Cambridge resident survives years of addiction

Billy Moore is back. Back, that is, from the depths of despair that go hand in hand with a drug and alcohol addiction so severe there seems no way out.

Background: We quantified the prevalence of alcohol problems among Alberta adults and determined relationships between sociodemographic characteristics, problem drinking status, and interest in self-help materials to reduce alcohol use.

Genes, and not religious conviction, explain why Jewish people typically have fewer drinking problems than non-Jews, researchers said Monday.

A study has shown that a genetic mutation carried by at least one- fifth of Jews appears to protect against alcoholism.

The same inherited trait is fairly common in Asian people, but is much rarer in white Europeans. The findings could help explain why Israel has one of the lowest levels of alcoholism in the developed world.

"In my town everyone drinks," says John Brodhead, 13 (at home in Jefferson, N.J., with parents Jack and Sharon and sister Jen, 19).

John Brodhead's bio reads like a script for an episode of VH1's Behind the Music. A young rebel from the New Jersey suburbs falls in with a fast crowd, gets hooked on parties and booze and, with intensive counseling and a bit of tough love, manages to get his life back together.

What makes his story different? Just one thing: his age. John is 13.