Iceland went from 42% of its 15 and 16 year olds having been drunk in the past month in 1998 to only 5% in 2018. This change is a great case study in offering alternative behaviors and shifting social norms on a national scale.

Ride-hailing apps have allowed more binging—and increased demand for bartenders

David Oliver wins gift cards for staying away from drugs. At St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver, British Columbia — which treats more overdoses than any other hospital in Canada — a program rewards users of cocaine and other stimulants with prizes when they don’t use. It’s a new approach to help substance abusers, and it’s also being tried in Veterans Affairs hospitals across the United States.

A key finding of this study was that the young women used a series of visual cues to self-identify if they had drunk too much. “You start losing, like, your eyesight and stuff. Stuff goes blurry.” ICE has designed a series of behavioural nudges (e.g. blurred images in toilet mirrors) that will be employed in situ at pubs and clubs to use young women’s unconscious thoughts and nudge them to self-identify that they may be approaching their limit, thus enabling them to apply drink protective behavioural strategies more proactively.

Higher Education Center for Prevention of Alcohol and Other Drugs