September 2007

 

The Summer of Strategy

It seems to have been a busy summer for strategizing. On August 29, 2007 a provincial alcohol strategy was unveiled out of the Department of Health Promotion and Protection of Nova Scotia. The strategy, Changing the Culture of Alcohol Use in Nova Scotia, incorporates the vision of broad cultural change, acknowledging Nova Scotia is a society in which individuals, families, and neighbourhoods support responsibility and risk reduction in the use of alcohol.

"We are very pleased to see Nova Scotia's commitment to and investment in reducing alcohol-related harm and we celebrate their efforts to proactively address problematic alcohol use," says Michel Perron [PDF] of the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse (CCSA).

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 CCSA's National Alcohol Strategy released just months earlier.

In April 2007, the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse in partnership with the Alberta Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission and Health Canada released Reducing Alcohol-related harm in Canada: Toward a culture of Moderation: Recommendations for a National Alcohol Strategy. This National Framework responds to calls issued by Canadians, their governments and non-governmental organizations for a more coordinated approach to meeting the challenges and harms associated with alcohol and other drugs and substances. The Framework, using a public health lens, summarizes a shared vision, principles, goals, and priorities for action, identified by partners.

"We support the principles and goals in the report and are particularly supportive of the overall intent to provide a comprehensive strategy that recognizes the role of all players in addressing alcohol-related harm," states Dr. Garry Aslanyan, President of the Ontario Public Health Association. Dr. Aslanyan points out that only a comprehensive multi-faceted approach will reduce alcohol-related problems and costs in Canada and, although the framework requires further attention to harm reduction approaches and health promotion principles, OPHA is pleased that the report focuses on issues pertaining to alcohol availability, policy, and safer communities. "Overall," concludes Dr. Aslanyan, "we support the Recommendations for a National Alcohol Strategy [PDF], in particular those activities which have been shown to be most effective, and we would be pleased to be involved in implementation of several of the recommendations".

Both the provincial and national strategies focus on four key action areas:

1. Health promotion, prevention and education;
2. Health impacts and treatment;
3. Availability of alcohol; and
4. Safer communities.

CCSA is currently seeking formal endorsement of the Framework by their ministers, boards and governing bodies while a longer-term governance model for the Framework is developed and discussed at an upcoming second National Framework Forum (time and date still to be determined).

Public health professionals believe a specific alcohol and drug strategy is needed for Ontario. In the meantime, an injury prevention strategy recognizing that alcohol contributes to a high percentage and wide array of injuries was released on August 8, 2007, through the Ministry of Health Promotion. The aim of this Strategy is to reduce the frequency, severity and impact of preventable injury in the province while representing a government-wide coordinated approach to addressing injury prevention — the first of its kind in Ontario.

Ontario's Injury Prevention Strategy [PDF] utilizes a phased, multi-pronged approach that focuses on four key strategic directions:

1. Community Partnerships and Mobilization;
2. Public Education and Engagement;
3. Safe Environments;
4. Healthy Public Policy.

The Ministry of Health Promotion will also continue to support the Ontario Public Health Association with their injury prevention projects. These include: the Ontario Injury Prevention Resource Centre services provided by SMARTRISK; and, support for public health managers overseeing the Injury Prevention including Substance Abuse Prevention mandatory program.

Keg Registration

Under a new proposed registry, beer kegs, which are sold exclusively from the Beer Store, would each have an identification number and customers would have to provide their address and phone number in order to take a keg home. Ottawa police Sgt. Kal Ghadban has been pushing for years for such a registry.

"If people want to party … we're not trying to stop them from partying. What we want to happen is them to do it safely and in a safe environment," states Sgt. Ghadban. Police believe the registry would allow them to:

• Identify who is responsible for an out-of-control party;
• Conduct pre-emptive strikes on suspicious parties;
• Crack down on underage drinking.

Regulating the physical availability of alcohol, such as keg registration, is a recommended initiative of the landmark World Health Organization document on alcohol research and public policy. Studies demonstrate that "controlling alcohol availability can contribute to the reduction of alcohol problems … Restrictions on access to alcohol is associated with reductions in both alcohol use and alcohol-related problems".

Speaking to alcohol strategies in general, Dr. Garry Aslanyan, President of the Ontario Public Health Association, believes it is vital that the Substance Abuse Prevention community not only provide evidence-based programs and policies [PDF], such as reducing alcohol availability, but also provide policy initiatives directed at ending ineffective activities, such as education and social marketing initiatives on their own, especially those geared to youth.