March 2008

 

The new old push on alcohol control: Taxing booze based on alcohol content

While most of those on Parliament Hill are busy discussing varying theories on economic reform based on the passed Federal budget last week, other government officials have walked towards a new path of economic reform: alcohol control.

This is not a new revelation to those familiar with a leading text on alcohol research and policy; Alcohol: No Ordinary Commodity: Research and Public Policy, written by Thomas Babor and international colleagues. This key document discusses the issue of alcohol pricing and taxation while summarizing that "alcohol taxes are an attractive instrument of alcohol policy as they can be used to both generate direct revenue and to reduce alcohol-related harms".

Apparently, Babor's theory has come as welcomed knowledge to state and provincial economists who see economic reform of alcohol control as common cents. In fact, in some jurisdictions it makes more than cents — it makes dollars, billions of dollars.

The Marin Institute, an alcohol watchdog housed in California, has met with high ranking state authorities, including Governor Schwarzenegger, to discuss an increase in alcohol tax.

Up the Pacific coast, the Director of the Centre for Addiction Research of British Columbia (CARBC), Dr. Tim Stockwell, is imploring provincial authorities to review his work on alcohol content consumption and price drinks accordingly.

Dr. Stockwell proposes that a beers' price should mirror its alcohol content. His suggestion is based on findings that drinkers between the ages of 19 and 34, who represent a large demographic of the market, can not identify what beers have a higher alcohol content over beers that have a lower alcohol content. Stockwell suggests that because the market place is flooded with high percentage alcohol beers, why not take these off the shelves and replace them with lower percentage beers that aren't as taxing to the body and society.

"The science is very clear that what the population does as a whole with regard to drinking affects how many people die each year, how many hospital admissions there are, how many road crashes, how many deformed babies. The list goes on and on, and on."

Stockwell's recommendations also include taxing beer and other alcohol products based on their alcohol content per serving. This means a standard serving size of high percentage alcohol would cost more at the check-out than beverages with a lower volume of alcohol.

In theory, this approach satisfies public health professionals and economists alike: fatalities and alcohol-related deaths and injuries decrease while government revenues increase.

With the Ontario deficit climbing to as much as $147.8 billion for the 2007-08 fiscal year, now seems as good a time as ever to pressure provincial and municipal politicians to take fiscally responsible and morally responsible steps. One sure way to accomplish this is through pricing alcoholic beverages based on their alcohol content as a way to tackle a major social epidemic: alcohol-related deaths and injuries.

To take action, contact your regional Medical Officer of Health, Member of Provincial Parliament, Member of Parliament, or a local politician.

 

It's time to discuss Ontario's alcohol and drug strategy

As written about in September's Issues to Watch, August 29, 2007 saw Nova Scotia's Department of Health Promotion and Protection unveil their provincial strategy, Changing the Culture of Alcohol Use in Nova Scotia. This strategy incorporates the vision of broad cultural change, acknowledging Nova Scotia as a society in which individuals, families, and neighbourhoods support responsibility and risk reduction in the use of alcohol.

The goal of the Nova Scotia Alcohol Strategy is to prevent and reduce alcohol-related acute and chronic health, social, and economic harm and costs among individuals, families, and communities in Nova Scotia. This strategic approach focuses on alcohol from a public health perspective and underlines alcohol's significant role in contributing to health and social harms in Canada, aligning with the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuses' National Framework for an Alcohol Strategy released in April 2007.

Public health professionals believe a specific alcohol and drug strategy is needed for Ontario. Since 2005, the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) has been Ontario’s lead agency working to organize such a strategy. Progress to date has included forming a network of relevant sectors to engage in dialogue and strategic thinking, producing an environmental scan of data regarding alcohol- and drug-related harms in Ontario, and drafting an Ontario drug strategy framework document.

However, the primary challenge going forward will be to receive formal provincial government leadership in order to move the strategy forward in the political arena.

"This network needs leadership and commitment from the Province of Ontario, including a lead minister and lead ministry," explains Reggie Caverson of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, the lead coordinator on this initiative. "The network needs a commitment from the Government of Ontario that it recognizes the size and scope of the substance abuse problem, and an assurance that the Government will make a sustained and meaningful commitment to working in partnership to prevent and address the problem", Caverson concludes.

Please join us on March 27, 2008 in Ottawa at our annual Alcohol: No Ordinary Commodity forum as the above topics will be presented and discussed. For details and registration, visit our Teleconferences/Presentations web page.