Tima Magazine report on how one city's decision to shut down bars before midnight has served as a model for cutting crime and alcoholism in a nation plagued by both.

Norways recently published Development Strategy for Children and Young People in the South, "Three Billion Reasons" is mentioning alcohol and drug as a problem for this group. Says Minister of International Development, Hilde F. Johnson: “There is not just one reason for working to promote the well-being and rights of children and young people. There are three billion of them.”

In May the Indian Alcohol Policy Alliance was officially launched with a seminar i Delhi. The alliance, an affiliate to the Global Alcohol Policy Alliance and a partner to FORUT, will be advocating for alcohol control policies in India.

Sumnima Tuladhar of CWIN presented the results of a study on alcohol and drug use among street children in six urban centres in Nepal at a FORUT conference recently. The children are very much affected by glue sniffing.

Consultation with NGOs in preperation of the the Action Plan "Fighting Poverty" released by the Norwegian Government recently led to the mentioning of alcohol in it.

The alcohol question in Nepal has been put to the extreme the last few months, with the maoist womens movement demanding a total ban on alcohol nation wide. This has lead to a negotiated settlement focusing on alcohol control. In this article the contact person in CWIN for the Local Action against Alcohol and Drugs project, Rupa Dhital, is focusing on alcohol control in Nepal.

"Alcohol and Drug Use in Nepal With Reference to Children" is the title of the report released in Kathmandu in June. This survey was conducted by Child Workers in Nepal (CWIN) in co-operation with the Thribhuvan University as part of the Local Action programme.

The Alcohol and Drug Information Centre (ADIC) in Colombo put alcohol policies on the agenda during last years election campaign in Sri Lanka. 37 out of 40 "recommended" candidates got a seat in the Parliament.

A representative survey on drug use was conducted among students at Upper Level Secondary Schools in Senegal in 1998/99. The study was conducted by Arne H. Eide of the Norwegian SINTEF Unimed research institute, together with Ibrahima Thioub, Ibou Diallo and Lajla Blom of FORUT.