Debate is heating up in the UK after the government’s former chief drugs adviser, Dr David Nutt, was sacked over his views that cannabis is less harmful than cigarettes and alcohol. Now the scientific community is coming to his defence.
Alcohol 
Intervention lets Territory grog runners walk free
Canberra is weak as piss on grog in the Northern Territory, and several NT Magistrates are angry that their sentencing options for grog-runners have been seriously compromised by the Intervention.
13 types of booze you can brew in your own kitchen
Most people have made abortive attempts to brew their own beer, but what about apple cider, Irish cream, mead, gin or sambuca? Sloshpot explains how to make 13 alcoholic beverages in your own home.
Video of the Day: Drinking like Mad Men
How do the characters on Mad Men spend so much of their work-day drinking booze and still get any work done? The ladies of Double X try it and see — all in the name of science, of course.
Video of the Day: Getting tanked at The New York Times
Former NYT journo Gay Talese recalls the alcohol-fuelled newsrooms of yore, which he claims made the characters on Mad Men look like amateurs. But did a diet of booze and smokes really make for more creative writers?
The best Bloody Mary on the whole bloody planet?
With a whopping 17 ingredients — including Guinness, pickled okra and beetroot — bon appetit magazine reckons it’s landed upon the greatest Bloody Mary recipe in the world. The Bitten Word lads put it to the test.
Which famous author would you go boozing with?
Literary figures are long time lovers of drinking and alcoholism. Would you have been more likely to share a tipple with Oscar Wilde or a rum with Ernest Hemingway? Take the quiz!
Your Say: Daily Mail readers' feedback: Economists on the economy?
Crikey readers weigh in on where economists know anything about the economy, John Della Bosca jokes and the joys of ABC’s Respectember.
Russia’s new war on drinking
Russian President Dmitri Medvedev is taking on the unenviable task of breaking the country’s vodka-guzzling ways, in an attempt to lower the staggeringly high level of alcoholism and alcohol-related deaths and illness. Can the convince the country to sober up?
What’s Elvis Presley got to do with alcohol labelling?
Health Minister Nicola Roxon could do with ‘a little less conversation, a little more action’ when it comes to health warnings on alcohol labels, writes Jennifer Doggett.
Why alcohol should carry a health warning
We provide consumers with information that some foods contain traces of nuts; that excessive consumption of some mints has a laxative effect, and that some products cause drowsiness. Why let alcohol off the hook? asks VicHealth CEO Todd Harper.
Ice goes gourmet
In Canada, bartending just got wankier, with bartenders — sorry, “beverage consultants” — creating their own “designer ice” for drinks.
Why is some whisky so exey?
Once you start seeing prices for whisky above, say $500, it has more to do with human nature than the quality of the drop, writes Kate Hopkins.
Political snippets: The Age finds communists in China
The Age investigates and finds communism in China, Australians are not drinking any less and headline of the day!
Here’s to vintage London
London’s first commercial vineyard since medieval times was planted yesterday.
Bottoms up! Cocktail recipes for the recession
Drown your sorrows with a Nasdaiquiri.
I like a drink. Does that make me an alcoholic?
The latest government health campaign will show how each drink is the equivalent of four fish fingers. Bonkers, writes Janet Street-Porter.
Breathing gin and tonic
A temporary London bar is offering a cloud of breathable gin and tonic to its patrons. Is this just a fancy way of skimping on the alcohol?
Don’t mock the mocktail
Don’t laugh, mocktails are serious business.
It’s time to change the NRL “boyz” club
Rugby League has an entrenched, serious, and dare we say it, intractable problem with rampant s-xual abuse and misogyny within its ranks, writes James Connor .
Yeast search raises questions about NT police powers
Respected members of the Galiwin’ku community on Elcho Island, NT, have had their house searched by police looking for yeast, without a warrant, writes Eleri Harris.
Richard Farmer’s political bite-sized meaty chunks
Meaty snippets from the home of government by Richard Farmer.
Alcohol industry needs to cut the cr-p on alcopops
If the independent and minor party Senators who hold the balance of power reject the Rudd Government’s tax on ready-to-drink pre-mixed spirits (RTDs), they will reward the alcohol industry for misleading the Senate Inquiry into RTDs, writes Geoff Munro.
Spin watch: To Roxon, wine is good, Bundie is evil
Welcome to Health Minister Nicola Roxon’s confected moral universe, writes Trevor Cook.
