Alcohol Policy UK

News & updates September 2018: Labour pledge hospital alcohol teams, drink-drive limit questioned, health, pubs & more

Selected media stories since the August update:

Alcohol treatment figures are falling despite record numbers of people with dependency, reports The Guardian. The figures come as MP Jon Ashworth pledges Labour would fund an alcohol care team in every district hospital at a cost of £13.5 million, though would result in savings of £40 million to the NHS. Figures suggest that at least 41 English hospitals do not currently have an alcohol care team in place - The Metro.

Drink-drive limits are too high suggests a BBC report. In England, Wales or Northern Ireland, it says 'you can drink a surprising amount of alcohol before you go above the current drink-drive limits'. However even within the limits - 80mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood- drinkers are up 13 times more likely to kill someone than a driver with a zero BAC. The drink-drive limit is the highest in Europe with most countries at 50mg per 100ml. "The government currently has no immediate plans to lower the drink-drive limit" a Government spokesperson said.

Youth drinking in decline: who, why & where next?

A new report examining the decline in youth drinking since the turn of the century has been released as part of a new four-year study which aims to examine the patterns and causes of the decline in youth drinking.

Whilst based on previously released data, it brings together the Smoking Drinking and Drug Use amongst Young People in England surveys (SDD) and Health Surveys for England (HSE) findings 'to present the most comprehensive picture to date of the downturn in alcohol use among young people aged 8 to 24'.

PHE partner with Drinkaware for 'Drink Free Days' campaign

Public Health England (PHE) has jointly launched a new campaign with the industry funded alcohol education charity Drinkaware to promote 'Drink Free Days'.

According to PHE, the campaign 'will be encouraging middle-aged drinkers to use the tactic of taking more days off from drinking as a way of reducing their health risks from alcohol.' It states evidence suggests 'that simple and easy ways of helping people to change their behaviour are the most effective, which is why Drinkaware and PHE have chosen to focus on Drink Free Days'.

IAS Alert August 2018: airport alcohol disorder, guidelines and risk, pubs & 'responsible drinking'

The latest Institute of Alcohol Studies (IAS) Alcohol Alert: August 2018 is now available (here for PDF version). Read the editorial here and articles below:

• COVER STORY – Drunk, disruptive air passenger numbers on the rise
• Alcohol industry relies on heavy drinkers
• No level of alcohol improves health, says The Lancet
• Moderate drinking does not prevent dementia
• Alcohol addiction medications improve patient lives

News & updates June 2018: airports, teenagers, U-shaped curves, consumption & more

Selected media stories since the May roundup:

A forthcoming consultation on how alcohol is sold at airports has been reported. With increasing numbers of alcohol-related problems on flights and at airports over recent years, calls have been made to review the licensing exemptions at airports. A Home Office spokesperson said: “We will issue a Call for Evidence to assess the impact that an extension of the Licensing Act to airside premises at airports in England and Wales could have on reducing alcohol-related disruptive passenger behaviour.”

The “smoke and mirror” tactics of defence lawyers in drink-driving cases have been criticised by the government’s forensic science regulator, who has launched an investigation into the work of a number of expert witnesses. Guardian

IAS Alert June 2018: MUP in Wales, labelling, cancer, research & more

The latest Institute of Alcohol Studies (IAS) Alcohol Alert: June 2018 is now available (here for PDF version). Read the editorial here and articles below:

• COVER STORY – Welsh Assembly passes MUP
• Texts fail to moderate binge drinking
• Holyrood to make ‘wholesale’ changes to MUP
• Andriukaitis on labelling – consumers have a right to know
• Alcohol and cancer awareness link needs prompting
• Time To Deliver in 2018
• Abstinent workers off sick more than moderate drinking ones
• New tech gets tough on drink-drivers
• French support alcohol price rise to boost health
• Cancer risk lowest for light alcohol drinkers
• MESAS: weekly alcohol sales exceed guidelines
• Irish alcohol bill passes committee stage
• Canada: Committee calls for content, labelling, and marketing restrictions
• ALCOHOL SNAPSHOT – How heavy drinking varies by income

Statistics on Alcohol England 2018 & latest OPN drinking figures

The annual Statistics on Alcohol for England 2018 has been released, detailing national data for key alcohol-related indicators and health harms.

Mainly bringing together recent alcohol data releases, the overall trends remain suggesting stabilisation of overall consumption and harm measures such as alcohol-related hospital admissions. As before though, significant variations exists between age groups, gender, regions, income and other factors. The measures used are also important as the 'broad' measure of alcohol-related admissions suggest an increase on last year, whilst the 'narrow' measure suggests a fall for the first time. Meanwhile, the final release of the Opinions and Lifestyle Survey, focusing on drinking in the last week, will no longer continue.

Key figures from the national statistics release include:

'Massive' study supports unit guidelines - where next for consumer messaging?

A new study on alcohol consumption risk levels based on almost 600,000 drinkers has been published in the Lancet, reporting the risk of early death from drinking begins to rise at a level above 100g of alcohol per week (12.5 units).

The findings, which cover 19 countries, can be seen to add weight to the Chief Medical Officer's recommended guideline of not regularly drinking more than 14 units per week, revised in 2016 and since subject to ongoing debate. The issue for many in the alcohol field though remains how best to communicate drinking guidelines and associated risks. Whilst most ultimately support the goal of informed decision making, the real world complexity of alcohol harms and how drinkers take note of - or indeed dismiss - alcohol-related messages leaves many ongoing questions over how to make use of such evidence.

Sales to 'drunks' - tackling a culture of intoxication?

A research evaluation has been published in the journal Addiction assessing the impact of the 'Drink Less Enjoy More' project that aimed to increase adherence to the law prohibiting sales to intoxicated persons in Liverpool.

Although findings from the project have previously been reported - indicating that the combination of awareness raising, bar server training and enforcement appeared to significantly reduce sales to drunks - the evaluation may be seen as significant given addressing alcohol-related disorder appears central to national alcohol policy in England and Wales.

Alcohol policy questions for the UK ahead of Scotland's MUP date

As Scotland's 1st May 2018 Minimum Unit Pricing (MUP) implementation date fast approaches, debates on the role of pricing and other alcohol control policies is again receiving increased attention.

Writing in the Scotsman, Alcohol Focus Scotland's Chief Exec Alison Douglas says MUP’s 'positive impact on the nation’s health will be felt in a matter of months' and the 'life saving measure' is a ‘starting point for even more ambitious policies aimed at further tackling Scotland’s problematic relationship with alcohol'. The Scottish Government is shortly due to release a new national alcohol strategy to follow its former strategy and MESAS evaluation.