V

Alcoholised voters - alcoholised politicians.

"-I have seen people with suits more expensive than my car, I have seen statesmen and actors, young and old, rich and poor."

The alcoholic of today is not mainly a worn 55-year old. Over the last few years, more and more 30-year olds mixing pills and alcohol have reported in for treatment at AA.(Anonymous Alcoholics).

 -"We have seen definite increase in recent years. Our members keep getting younger, and there are almost no pure alcoholics with us anymore. Most of the new breed mix alcohol with pills. This especially applies to young women", Egil, contact person for Søndre Nordstrand AA, points out. He emphasizes that this is an illness that can affect anyone.

Rich and poor

 -"I have seen people with suits more expensive than my car, I have seen statesmen and actors, young and old, rich and poor", says Egil. The development that has been registered by AA in Oslo is known among social scientists. At the State institute of drug research (Sirus), research manager Sturla Nordlund confirms the observations.

-"This is a development we know about. The traditional alcoholic-groups have become rarer. Now people use what they can find of drugs, especially youngsters. At detoxication institutions in Oslo, we can see that the youngest are first and foremost detoxed for a mixture of alcohol and other intoxicants", he says.

 Big drinkers

 There is no clear definition as to what an alcoholic is. Sirus defines a high level consumer as a person that drinks more than 10 cl. of pure alcohol, more than a bottle of wine or 67 fl.oz. of beer in average every day - 36,5 litres of pure alcohol a year. There is approximately 70 000 high level consumers in Norway, 25 - 30 000 of them lives in Oslo. And the alcohol consumption keeps on increasing in the capital.

 In a report on youth and drugs from Oslo, the conclusion that alcohol abuse among youth is increasing. It is particularly girls that drink more, and they start drinking at increasingly younger ages.”Rusmiddeletaten” (government agency working to control the abuse of drug and alcohol) is concerned that youth who abandons illegal drugs, will instead end up with a very high consumption of alcohol, ending up as alcoholics.

 Every fifth citizen in Oslo above 15 years of age drinks alcohol three times a week or more. The amount of everyday-drinkers is twice as high as one can find in the rest of Norway.

Numbers from SSB (governmental statistical bureau) show that households in the capital definitely spend the most money on alcoholic drinks. In the first quarter of 2004, Vinmonopolene ("Wine Monopoly" chain of liquor stores owned and controlled by the government, and the only legal source of wine and spirits) had an increase of ten percent in alcoholic beverages sales, a stronger increase than the country as a whole has had. The researchers believe that increase in sales may be an indication for higher alcohol consumption in the population. In Oslo, the number of facilities licensed to serve alcohol is growing this year, the inhabitants can order alcohol at over 1 000 bars, restaurants and clubs.

People drink more

 -The remarkable thing about Oslo, is that so much alcohol is sold, when a growing part of the population doesn't drink. This must mean that most people drink more, Hans Olav Fekjær, doctor and psychiatrist at Blå Kors Center (detoxication clinic), says.