Alcohol And Public Policy

From a public health perspective, alcohol is a major contributor to morbidity and mortality, and impacts on many aspects of social life. This text describes advances in alcohol research with direct relevance to the development of effective policies at local, national and international level.

Written by international leaders in the field of alcoholism, this book provides an interdisciplinary source of information on alcoholism that links together science, policy, and public health in order to emphasise the importance of scientific knowledge with deciding public health policy.

In recent years, the reduction of alcohol-related harm has emerged as a major policy issue across Europe. Public health advocates, supported by the World Health Organisation, have challenged an approach that targets problem-drinking individuals, calling instead for governments to control consumption across whole populations through a combination of pricing strategies, restrictions on retail availability and marketing regulations. Alcohol, Power and Public Health explores the emergence of the public health perspective on alcohol policy in Europe, the strategies alcohol control policy advocates have adopted, and the challenges they have faced in the political context of both individual states and the European Union. The book provides a historical perspective on the development of alcohol policy in Europe using four case studies – Denmark, England, Scotland and Ireland. It explores the relationship between evidence, values and power in a key area of political decision-making and considers what conditions create – or prevent – policy change. The case studies raise questions as to who sets policy agendas, how social problems are framed and defined, and how governments can balance public health promotion against both commercial interests and established cultural practices. This book will be of interest to academics and researchers in policy studies, public health, social science, and European Union studies.

As a toast to success, a drowning of sorrows, a rite of passage, and the fuel for most social activities, alcohol plays a central role in our culture. Alcohol generates nearly $160 billion in US revenues annually and is a major source of tax revenue, making the stakes in the modern debate over its use, misuse, and regulation staggeringly high. Fact

Alcohol use by young people is extremely dangerous - both to themselves and society at large. Underage alcohol use is associated with traffic fatalities, violence, unsafe sex, suicide, educational failure, and other problem behaviors that diminish the prospects of future success, as well as health risks â€" and the earlier teens start drinking, the greater the danger. Despite these serious concerns, the media continues to make drinking look attractive to youth, and it remains possible and even easy for teenagers to get access to alcohol. Why is this dangerous behavior so pervasive? What can be done to prevent it? What will work and who is responsible for making sure it happens? Reducing Underage Drinking addresses these questions and proposes a new way to combat underage alcohol use. It explores the ways in which may different individuals and groups contribute to the problem and how they can be enlisted to prevent it. Reducing Underage Drinking will serve as both a game plan and a call to arms for anyone with an investment in youth health and safety.

Written by seventeen of the world's leading researchers on alcohol problems, and produced in collaboration with WHO, this book presents a critical and highly informed perspective on alcoholism and its management. It provides an appraisal of the nature and extent of society's alcohol problems and then explores how scientific findings assist in the design of more effective policy responses. Topics covered include international trends in alcohol consumption, understanding the relationships between alcohol consumption and multiple types of harm, both as regards individual drinking and population consumption. With the epidemiological evidence established, the text turns to a view of the efficacy of different types of prevention strategy, including pricing, licensing and control of access, drunk driving counter-measures, public education, and the treatment contribution. A final chapter succinctly outlines how these analyses are to assist in the making of informed policy choices.

The report provides an overview of alcohol consumption and harms in relation to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (Chapter 1) presents global strategies action plans and monitoring frameworks (Chapter 2) gives detailed information on: the consumption of alcohol in populations (Chapter 3); the health consequences of alcohol consumption (Chapter 4); and policy responses at national level (Chapter 5). In its final chapter 6 the imperative for reducing harmful use of alcohol in a public health perspective is presented. In addition the report contains country profiles for WHO Member States and appendices with statistical annexes a description of the data sources and methods used to produce the estimates and references.