tag:theconversation.com,2011:/au/topics/alcohol-in-australia-4848/articlesAlcohol in Australia – The Conversation2015-08-17T20:27:22Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/429082015-08-17T20:27:22Z2015-08-17T20:27:22ZQuick fixes aren’t the answer, alcohol and violence have a complex relationship<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/91236/original/image-20150810-12484-tceb0z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The effects of alcohol vary considerably between different people.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/oneras/3449142109/">Mario Antonio Pena Zapater/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The NSW Sentencing Council is <a href="http://www.sentencingcouncil.justice.nsw.gov.au/Pages/sent_council_index/sent_council_current_projects/ARV_project.aspx">considering proposals</a> to change the laws designed to address alcohol-related violence, including whether people who commit crimes while intoxicated should always be treated as more culpable when being sentenced. Like many attention-grabbing quick fixes to society’s ills, this is a really bad idea.</p>
<p>If adopted, the reform could lead to even tougher sentences for crimes committed by people affected by alcohol. Although it’s tempting to think of such crimes as new problems requiring novel solutions, debates about the relationship between alcohol and violence, including how it should be dealt with by criminal laws, are anything but new. Australian researchers, politicians and <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/cth/HCA/1980/17.html">judges have been grappling</a> with these issues for decades. </p>
<h2>A complex relationship</h2>
<p>Scientific understandings of the relationship between alcohol and violence have improved over time. But policymakers haven’t paid enough attention to experts or evidence when it comes to developing legal responses to alcohol-related violence. They seem to prefer the <a href="http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/opinion/editorial-newman-governments-tougher-onepunch-laws-hit-home/story-fnihsr9v-1226862177507">attention-grabbing headlines</a> about dramatic changes to criminal law. The result is that we can end up with <a href="https://www.crimejusticejournal.com/article/view/145">laws that are ineffective</a> or <a href="http://www.nswbar.asn.au/circulars/2014/jan/MR_1punch.pdf">unfair</a>, or both.</p>
<p>The relationship between <a href="http://www.ijdp.org/article/S0955-3959%2812%2900206-X/abstract">alcohol and violence is complex</a>. A large body of <a href="http://www.bocsar.nsw.gov.au/Documents/cjb54.pdf">epidemiological evidence</a> suggests that, across the population, violence goes up with more drinking, and down with less drinking. At this level, rates of violence can be reduced by policies that limit the availability of alcohol or structure when and how people drink. </p>
<p>But the picture is much more nuanced at the individual level. The effects of alcohol vary considerably between different people. It’s shaped by cultural understandings and expectations about how we are “allowed” to conduct ourselves when we’re drinking. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/91239/original/image-20150810-10154-wj8bsg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/91239/original/image-20150810-10154-wj8bsg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/91239/original/image-20150810-10154-wj8bsg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/91239/original/image-20150810-10154-wj8bsg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/91239/original/image-20150810-10154-wj8bsg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/91239/original/image-20150810-10154-wj8bsg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/91239/original/image-20150810-10154-wj8bsg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Reactions to drinking are shaped by cultural understandings and expectations about how we’re ‘allowed’ to conduct ourselves when we’re drinking.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dlee13/7757157748/">Daniel Lee/Filckr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Even though epidemiological research may suggest alcohol as a cause of violence, <a href="http://www.robinroom.net/violence.htm">it doesn’t follow</a> that, in any particular case, we can attribute violence to drinking. It would be great if the link between alcohol and violence were simpler because simple problems are easy to solve. But that’s not the case. Any sound response to alcohol and violence must <a href="http://www.aic.gov.au/publications/current%20series/rip/1-10/04.html">grapple with</a> the “complex interaction of variables” including <a href="http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev.soc.24.1.291">social and environmental factors</a>, and the impacts of masculinity and culture.</p>
<p>The dilemma for politicians is that complex problems require sophisticated solutions. These take time to develop and implement, and they don’t sound very impressive in a 30-second media grab. Lawmakers are attracted to responses that gloss over complexity and focus on isolating one risk and “fixing” it in criminal law as an aggravating factor. </p>
<p>In New South Wales, for instance, the <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/nsw/consol_act/ca190082/s25b.html">offence of assault causing death</a> (the “one-punch” law introduced in the aftermath of the tragic deaths of <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-thomas-kelly-case-why-a-one-punch-law-is-not-the-answer-20106">Thomas Kelly</a> and <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-06-11/jury-in-mcneil-one-punch-death-returns-with-a-verdict/6537116">Daniel Christie</a>) does this by imposing a mandatory minimum sentence for fatal assaults committed by people who are drunk. And the <a href="http://www.sentencingcouncil.justice.nsw.gov.au/Pages/sent_council_index/sent_council_current_projects/ARV_project.aspx">current proposal</a> before the NSW Sentencing Council aims to make drunkenness a mandatory aggravating factor in sentencing, leading to even tougher sentences. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, both these approaches suffer from a serious flaw: they assume a simple, causal relationship between alcohol and violence. Neither is <a href="http://www.sentencingcouncil.justice.nsw.gov.au/Documents/ARV/Submissions/ADFV02_University_of_Wollongong.pdf">sufficiently sensitive</a> to individual context or to the complexity and conditionality of alcohol’s role in violence.</p>
<h2>Getting it wrong – and right</h2>
<p>Politicians may claim that increased penalties for offences involving alcohol are still useful because they have a deterrent effect. But given that <a href="https://theconversation.com/mandatory-sentences-cant-deliver-justice-or-stop-one-punch-killings-30647">we know</a> the threat of higher penalties rarely produces the deterrence effect promised, and that the cognition-impairing effects of alcohol <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?hl=en&lr=&id=ajoAGhrfxDAC&oi=fnd&pg=PA65&dq=%E2%80%98Understanding+intoxicated+violence+from+a+rational+choice+perspective%27&ots=er8PHDgydT&sig=c9MoydQMR6iP-jPCXI7CoZapDL4#v=onepage&q=%E2%80%98Understanding%20intoxicated%20violence%20from%20a%20rational%20choice%20perspective%27&f=false">diminish</a> our perceptions of its effects, there’s little reason to believe tough messages will change behaviour. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/91240/original/image-20150810-12468-dz4csm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/91240/original/image-20150810-12468-dz4csm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/91240/original/image-20150810-12468-dz4csm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/91240/original/image-20150810-12468-dz4csm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/91240/original/image-20150810-12468-dz4csm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/91240/original/image-20150810-12468-dz4csm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/91240/original/image-20150810-12468-dz4csm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">By focusing only on alcohol consumption, we’re diverting attention from other factors that interact with intoxication in situations of drunken violence.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/linmtheu/3332560545/">linmtheu/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>And by focusing only on the aggressor’s alcohol consumption, we’re diverting attention from other factors that interact with intoxication in situations of drunken violence. These include: individual factors specific to the offender, such as poor anger management skills; <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1465-3362.2008.00038.x/abstract">contextual factors</a> such as poor management of drinking establishments; and <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11199-007-9233-1/fulltext.html">societal factors</a>) including the place of drinking and violence within <a href="https://theconversation.com/king-hits-young-men-masculinity-and-violence-22247">ideas of masculinity</a>.</p>
<p>Tough criminal laws can also produce unfair results. Laws that assess criminal responsibility and punishment based on a fixed, simplistic and moralising account of the relationship between alcohol and violence invite us to always regard the drunk aggressor as more culpable than the sober aggressor. </p>
<p>As well as disregarding the fact that drinking alcohol can diminish a person’s capacity to assess situations and understand the risk of what they’re doing, such an approach risks leaving victims dissatisfied (“why should my attacker get off more lightly because he was sober?”). Public confidence in the criminal justice system may be dented.</p>
<p>It may not be very palatable to politicians and many members of the wider community but the complexity and conditionality of the relationship between alcohol and violence means it’s difficult to make general conclusions or sweeping recommendations for changes to criminal offence definitions or sentencing rules. </p>
<p>But if we want to take the idea of evidence-based law reform seriously, we need to listen to what science tells us. The nuances and complexities we’ve identified suggests it would be a mistake to tie judges’ hands with mandatory sentences and other overly prescriptive laws. </p>
<p>The law must be flexible and sensitive to complexity, in keeping with existing scientific knowledge. Better policy and law reform outcomes are possible if politicians, policymakers and judges pay greater attention to what non-legal experts know about alcohol and violence.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/42908/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kate Seear receives funding from the Australian Institute of Criminology grant scheme.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Julia Quilter receives funding from the Australian Institute of Criminology grant scheme.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Luke McNamara receives funding from the Australian Institute of Criminology grant scheme.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robin Room receives funding from the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services, the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education, the National Health and Medical Research Council and the Australian National Preventive Health Agency. He is a member of the Council of the Australasian Professional Society on Alcohol and other Drugs.</span></em></p>The relationship between alcohol and violence is complex, and dramatic changes to criminal laws to punish intoxicated offenders are often ineffective, unfair or both.Kate Seear, Academic Director of Springvale Monash Legal Service & Senior Lecturer in Law, Monash UniversityJulia Quilter, Senior Lecturer in Law, University of WollongongLuke McNamara, Professor of Law, University of WollongongRobin Room, Director, Centre for Alcohol Policy Research, Turning Point Alcohol & Drug Centre; Professor of Population Health & Chair of Social Research in Alcohol, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/427102015-06-28T20:02:18Z2015-06-28T20:02:18ZFocus on illicit drugs puts Australia’s drinking problem on ice<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/86198/original/image-20150624-801-dy8d0r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Our current focus on the drug ice takes the spotlight away from the harms of excessive alcohol use, which is actually a bigger problem in Australia.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/fensterbme/4595195627/">Photographer/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Recent discussions of Australia’s “<a href="http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/subscribe/news/1/index.html?sourceCode=AAWEB_WRE170_a&mode=premium&dest=http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/ice-epidemic-gripping-australia-is-ruining-lives-and-destroying-families/story-fnpp66pk-1227355705459&memtype=anonymous">ice epidemic</a>” have culminated in a <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-05-10/federal-government-launches-graphic-ice-ad-campaign/6457810">A$9 million</a> government-funded media campaign <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-05-10/government-launches-ad-campaign-in-ice-battle/6456800">to raise community awareness</a> of the drug’s harms, particularly in rural areas. We do need to address the harms of illicit drugs, but, in doing so, we mustn’t overlook the greater social impact of excessive alcohol consumption. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://theconversation.com/are-we-in-the-midst-of-an-ice-epidemic-a-snapshot-of-meth-use-in-australia-39697">number of commentators</a> have cautioned about the possible negative effects of <a href="https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/no-ice-epidemic--but-lots-of-political-fear-mongering,7578">government fear-mongering</a> on parents, families and communities. Experts have also highlighted the substantial evidence that drug education campaigns <a href="https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/no-ice-epidemic--but-lots-of-political-fear-mongering,7578">are, at best, ineffective</a> and, at worst, encourage experimentation. </p>
<p>But another – largely unremarked on – negative outcome of the strong focus on ice is that it takes the spotlight away from the harms of excessive alcohol use, which is actually a bigger problem in Australia. A reported 2.1% of Australians have used <a href="http://www.aihw.gov.au/alcohol-and-other-drugs/ndshs-2013/ch5/#t5_4">some form of methamphetamine</a> in the last 12 months while 15.6% of people aged 12 or older have consumed <a href="http://www.aihw.gov.au/alcohol-and-other-drugs/ndshs-2013/ch4/#t4_6">11 or more standard drinks</a> on a single drinking occasion in the same period. </p>
<h2>A polarised debate</h2>
<p>In what appears to have become a battle between those concerned about the different substances, we are increasingly seeing a debate polarised around which drug is worse, illustrated well by <a href="http://victorianalcoholanddrugassociationinc.cmail20.com/t/ViewEmail/j/8DC95E16EE7507EE/AD02CF30D6CC59A827D1E72AD0FD8334">this article</a> in the Herald Sun, arguing that ice is a bigger problem than alcohol:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Yes, there are those who are addicted to alcohol and the consequences of that addiction can ruin lives. But when was the last time an alcoholic shot his girlfriend in the head in a fit of rage?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The thing is, drunk people do kill their spouses, and they appear to do so in droves. Of the 1,565 solved homicides in Australia between 2000 and 2006, 729 (47%) were <a href="http://aic.gov.au/publications/current%20series/tandi/361-380/tandi372.html">classified as alcohol-related</a>. Both people had consumed alcohol in 60% of these cases, only the offender in 21%, and only the victim in 19%. Of the homicides involving an intimate partner relationship, between 2000 and 2006, 44% were related to alcohol.</p>
<p>In 2011 alone, there were <a href="http://www.fare.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/01-ALCOHOLS-IMPACT-ON-CHILDREN-AND-FAMILIES-web.pdf">29,684 police-reported incidents</a> of alcohol-related domestic violence in the four states and territories where this data is available (NSW, Victoria, WA and NT). When you add to that the other states, and the many cases of domestic violence that go unreported, the scale of the problem becomes enormous. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/86204/original/image-20150624-827-tnspha.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/86204/original/image-20150624-827-tnspha.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=359&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/86204/original/image-20150624-827-tnspha.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=359&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/86204/original/image-20150624-827-tnspha.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=359&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/86204/original/image-20150624-827-tnspha.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/86204/original/image-20150624-827-tnspha.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/86204/original/image-20150624-827-tnspha.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">People who consume the same news have similar perceptions of risk even if they live in different areas.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/49093093@N02/4638656232/in/photolist-84UjTA-aFVwvH-sLyQX3-6QcFY-6iBan-aGHytD-dVvjh3-aBvstD-6t4JV6-oBn8N-4jNB1g-5TncTG-3tDrdx-8cQaeq-dQQsRY-4qQTkH-dzzVQe-AuPPH-8U4Nfe-bV4gj-ky2n4a-8pQZ6T-Pm13f-7nW6xt-5pe22p-aigW2k-33ymwS-29RDYm-rqSVYU-fmAaA2-4sfYJw-8xoTd3-cobm1b-3RM6Zk-mBBzQQ-f3BcR-4eTn9u-5KzEsL-MAjbH-5gYmEk-bCsChu-c8sKMu-8RAZk7-fH8p6c-nDr7-r5geXo-9fZT8a-4naTz-6cPpbt-nT1bht">Teresa Avellanosa/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>What’s more, data from the 2005 Personal Safety Survey <a href="http://www.fare.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/The-Range-and-Magnitude-of-Alcohols-Harm-to-Others.pdf">suggests that alcohol</a> contributes to 50.3% of all partner violence, and 73% of physical partner assaults.</p>
<p>So why do we think ice kills and alcohol doesn’t?</p>
<h2>The wrong shortcut</h2>
<p>The answer lies in a mental shortcut known as the <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0010028573900339">availability heuristic</a>, which helps us make decisions. It helps determine the likelihood of an event by how easily examples of that event come to mind. </p>
<p>The process works really well when we’re deciding what to wear in the morning (how many people can I remember seeing in the office this week in thongs?) but can lead to important biases in the way we make decisions. </p>
<p>Studies show media coverage has a significant impact on what we perceive as risky. Consider this example: a survey of <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1539-6924.1994.tb00024.x/abstract">people living in France and Burkina Faso</a> conducted 20 years ago found they shared similar perceptions of the risks in their community – despite their fundamentally different geography, climates, environments and economies. The common factor was that both groups read magazines and newspapers originating in France. </p>
<p>The media have an enormous impact on how “available” a cause of death is in our minds, and may create a false sense of reality. <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1381061/">An analysis of the proportion of news coverage</a> of different causes of death in the United States, for instance, found tobacco-related deaths were under-represented (less than a quarter of the expected coverage) but illicit drug use deaths were over-represented (more than 17 times the expected coverage).</p>
<p>This positioning of illicit drugs – in this instance, ice – as a great and immediate risk to young people confuses parents and leads to the oft-heard lament “at least they are only drinking”.</p>
<p>The media have a role to play in creating – and correcting – the effects on communities, including politicians, of the availability heuristic. Perhaps we need to remind people that the reason ice-related homicides are on the front page of the newspaper is because they are rare; the reason alcohol-related homicides aren’t is because there are too many of them to report.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/42710/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sandra Jones holds an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship. She receives funding from the Australian Research Council, Healthway, FARE, Movember Foundation, WA Drug and Alcohol Office, and Medibank.</span></em></p>Alcohol-related violence is a much bigger problem in Australia than the harms of illicit drugs but we tend to overlook the former because the latter gets more headlines.Sandra Jones, Professor and Director of the Centre for Health and Social Research , Australian Catholic UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/396432015-04-09T04:40:55Z2015-04-09T04:40:55ZEarly pub closing times work for Kings Cross – they will for Queensland too<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/77434/original/image-20150409-15240-10k8trn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Early closing times reduce alcohol-fuelled violence but still face opposition from businesses</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/brunogirin/70449421">Bruno Girin/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The newly elected <a href="http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/lockouts-and-3am-closing-time-served-up-20150326-1m8rwn.html">Queensland government has said it will push ahead</a> with its plan to introduce lockouts and 3am closing times for pubs and clubs. Despite objections from vested interests, there’s now plenty of evidence to show this is a good idea for patrons and businesses alike.</p>
<p>Just 12 months after they were introduced, early closing times for pubs and clubs in central Sydney have caused a massive decline in crime throughout the previously violence-ridden Sydney suburb of Kings Cross. NSW Police data <a href="http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/opinion/cross-clean-up-is-a-victory-for-sydney/story-fni0cwl5-1227286782205">reported in Sydney’s Daily Telegraph</a> last week illustrates the impact of trading hours restrictions in King Cross after 12 months. It shows:</p>
<ul>
<li>sexual assaults in the area are down by 20.8%</li>
<li>assaults causing grievous bodily harm are down by 43%</li>
<li>assaults causing actual bodily harm have declined by 50.3%</li>
<li>robberies have fallen by a huge 57.1%</li>
<li>car theft is down by 44.6%, and </li>
<li>stealing from motor vehicles is down by 47.5%.</li>
</ul>
<p>Probably the most important gain – and one that’s not mentioned above – is the one <a href="http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/opinion/cross-clean-up-is-a-victory-for-sydney/story-fni0cwl5-1227286782205">highlighted by Kings Cross local area commander</a> Superintendent Mick Fitzgerald: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>The man hours saved and the way we are able to reallocate our resources has been phenomenal.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Many state governments in Australia expend massive resources on extra policing to effectively subsidise late-night venues by facilitating people drinking between 3am and 7am (despite the fact that <a href="http://www.fare.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/FARE-Alcohol-Poll-2014_LR.pdf">around 80% of the population</a> want pubs shut at 3am). But police in Kings Cross are now able to use their time dealing with criminal activity.</p>
<h2>Compelling arguments</h2>
<p>The state of Kings Cross a year on provides clear support for the newly elected <a href="http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/lockouts-and-3am-closing-time-served-up-20150326-1m8rwn.html">Queensland government’s proposal</a> but, not unexpectedly, industry groups are critical of the idea. They argue “<a href="http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/lockouts-and-3am-closing-time-served-up-20150326-1m8rwn.html">anti-social behaviour is a cultural problem, not an operational one</a>” and that the proposal will have a negative impact on the economy as well as worsening “<a href="http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/lockouts-and-3am-closing-time-served-up-20150326-1m8rwn.html">law and order issues surrounding entertainment zones</a>”. </p>
<p>The experience of Kings Cross has already proven them wrong about the latter point. And the seven years since similar measures were introduced in Newcastle provide the other nails in the coffin of that argument. </p>
<p>The story from Newcastle is that you can change drinking culture and <a href="http://www.ndlerf.gov.au/publications/monographs/monograph-43">businesses don’t have to suffer</a>. There are now <a href="olgr.nsw.gov.au">almost 50% more liquor licences</a> in Newcastle than there were in 2008 when the original 3am close was put in place. And the new venues are mostly small bars and restaurants.</p>
<p>In research my colleagues and I did to explore what measures were effective for reducing alcohol-related harm, we compared Newcastle, with its blanket 3am closing time, to Geelong, where pubs could stay open until 7am. <a href="http://dro.deakin.edu.au/view/DU:30062340">We found</a> people were actually spending more money, on average, in Newcastle. </p>
<p>Venue operators in Newcastle didn’t mind going home earlier, particularly once they adapted their business models to focus on alternative forms of entertainment and especially providing meals. These venues are now thriving and have very low levels of <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24589092">alcohol-related assaults</a> and <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24612319">emergency department attendances</a>.</p>
<p>While we don’t have Australian data on how much money changes hands in the night-time economy, <a href="http://lordmayors.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/PN041230_TheAustralianNTE_vFinal.pdf">UK studies show</a> only 20% of sales made between 6pm and 6am occur after midnight. When you consider how busy most pubs are between midnight and 2am, it seems unlikely that closing times at 3am, when crowds have dwindled, will have a significant impact on business bottom lines.</p>
<h2>A better culture</h2>
<p>Many licensees in Newcastle were ultimately <a href="http://www.deakin.edu.au/dante">glad to have legislation put into place</a>, because previously there was always a rogue or desperate trader who wanted to open later. The legislation meant everyone was competing on a level playing field. </p>
<p>According to my count in Geelong, where no restrictions are in place, 19 licensed businesses have gone broke in the past six years. </p>
<p>While elements of the alcohol industry oppose earlier closing, they don’t provide any evidence to support their arguments. If they considered the benefits this will bring to individual businesses, they would support closing pubs earlier and begin planning to build their businesses on a different drinking culture – a culture that encourages people to go out earlier, eat more and pre-load less, rather than one that’s all about fuelling drunken patrons to dangerous levels.</p>
<p>The evidence overwhelmingly supports the Queensland government’s proposed state-wide reduction of hours when alcohol is sold. The results of early closing times in Kings Cross and Newcastle show the objections of self-interested minorities are baseless, especially when considering the huge economic and social benefits seen elsewhere.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/39643/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Disclosure statement
Peter Miller receives funding from Australian Research Council and Australian National Health and Medical Research Council, grants from NSW Government, National Drug Law Enforcement Research Fund, Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education, Cancer Council Victoria, Queensland government and Australian Drug Foundation, travel and related costs from Australasian Drug Strategy Conference. He is affiliated with academic journal Addiction. He has acted as a paid expert witness on behalf of a licensed venue and a security firm.</span></em></p>The Queensland government has said it will push ahead with its plan to introduce lockouts and 3am closing times for pubs and clubs. This is a good idea for patrons and businesses alike.Peter Miller, Principal Research Fellow, Deakin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/99572013-12-25T21:26:47Z2013-12-25T21:26:47ZWe drink in the town and country, but who drinks more?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/37799/original/ppnmt9pk-1387149161.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Urban areas have historically been the winners in terms of heavy drinking but the picture has changes.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Brian/Flickr</span></span></figcaption></figure><blockquote>
<p><em>So you’re back from up the country, Mister Lawson, where you went,</em></p>
<p><em>And you’re cursing all the business in a bitter discontent;</em></p>
<p><em>Well, we grieve to disappoint you, and it makes us sad to hear,</em></p>
<p><em>That it wasn’t cool and shady - and there wasn’t plenty beer.</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>Banjo Paterson, In Defence of the Bush (1892)</strong></p>
<p>When Banjo Paterson and Henry Lawson swapped notes on the merits of rural life in 1892, they seemed to agree on very little except that it was easier to get a drink in the city than the bush. </p>
<p>The current perception of rural Australian life, 120 years later, is more or less the reverse. But how accurate is it?</p>
<h2>Who’s drinking more?</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.aihw.gov.au/publication-detail/?id=32212254712">2010 National Drug Strategy Household Survey</a> shows that about 26% of people living in remote or very remote communities drink at risky levels on single occasions (five or more standard drinks at least once a week), compared to 15% of city-dwellers. </p>
<p>Rural or regional communities lie between these extremes at about 18%, but the relationship isn’t linear. It goes up a bit from cities to rural and regional areas, then substantially to remote communities. </p>
<p>The proportion of people who report drinking more than two drinks a day shows a similar pattern – 19% in cities, 23% in rural and regional areas and 31% in remote communities.</p>
<p>It’s tempting to simply conclude that people in remote communities drink more than people in rural communities who, in turn, drink more than people in cities. </p>
<p>But while generally true, this simplified picture hides a more nuanced picture uncovered in a large-scale project involving 20 rural New South Wales communities – the <a href="http://www.fare.org.au/research-development/featured-research/alcohol-action-in-rural-communities/">Alcohol Action in Rural Communities</a> (AARC) project.</p>
<p>The project confirmed that rural rates of single occasion risky drinking were higher than in cities, but also found significant differences between individual communities. This has important implications for governments; it means we cannot simply treat all rural communities with the same approach, as if they have the same problems. </p>
<p>Of course, that’s true of local government areas in general – alcohol consumption patterns in Kings Cross or St Kilda are unlikely to be replicated in Wahroonga or Toorak.</p>
<p>But if alcohol consumption patterns are different in rural areas than in cities, what about alcohol-related harms?</p>
<h2>Who’s hurting more?</h2>
<p>An <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jrh.12014/abstract">investigation of Victorian Emergency Department data</a> shows people living in large and small rural centres are more likely to show up in an emergency department than those from metropolitan regions or very small rural or remote towns.</p>
<p>And that rates of alcohol-related injury in rural and regional areas have increased over time.</p>
<p>The AARC study also found rural rates of alcohol-related crime have steadily increased since 2000. A <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20579021">2010 review of rural and regional alcohol research</a> found people living in rural Australia are more likely to experience alcohol-related harm through violence, acute and chronic health problems, and drink driving.</p>
<p>Harms from drink driving in rural areas are especially worrisome. The AARC project showed that although rural <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001457510000138">alcohol-related traffic crashes</a> are 1.5 times higher than in cities, their attributable cost is four times higher and fatalities are up to eight times higher.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/37741/original/td3t26qc-1386913215.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/37741/original/td3t26qc-1386913215.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/37741/original/td3t26qc-1386913215.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/37741/original/td3t26qc-1386913215.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/37741/original/td3t26qc-1386913215.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/37741/original/td3t26qc-1386913215.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/37741/original/td3t26qc-1386913215.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Rates of alcohol consumption now appear higher in rural and remote communities.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Tgraham/Flickr</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Again, alcohol-related harms differ significantly between individual rural communities. The project showed some have very high rates of alcohol-related crime and traffic crashes, while others have relatively little.</p>
<p>The observation that consumption and alcohol-related harm differs between rural communities raises interesting questions about why this is so.</p>
<h2>Some sobering findings</h2>
<p>The first issue, of course, is that each community has its own raison d'être, from mining boom towns, such as Kalgoorlie and Broken Hill, to farming hamlets, such as Beeac, tourist destinations, such as Lorne and Byron Bay, and any number of combinations such as Mansfield (think winter skiing and mountain cattleman). </p>
<p>But the AARC project also identified more immediate reasons why alcohol harms differ between communities. </p>
<p>In the same way that research has traditionally focused on why some people drink more than others, the project was the first Australian study to try to identify why some communities drink more than others.</p>
<p>And some results were quite surprising. </p>
<p>Communities with more risky drinkers didn’t have higher proportions of Indigenous Australians. In fact, the opposite was true – communities with more Indigenous Australians had fewer risky drinkers. </p>
<p>Poorer communities did not have more alcohol-related crime. Again, the opposite was true. </p>
<p>These two findings are probably related and probably point to, ahem, a sobering truth – the wealthier we become, the more we drink and the more alcohol-related harm we cause. </p>
<p>To put it in reverse, community rates of excessive drinking and alcohol harms are not a function of being Indigenous or otherwise socioeconomically disadvantaged. They are a function of being non-Indigenous and being socioeconomically well off.</p>
<p>Other results were not surprising. Communities with more pubs and clubs had higher rates of risky alcohol consumption and alcohol crime, and communities with more young males had higher rates of alcohol-related traffic crashes.</p>
<h2>Paterson or Lawson?</h2>
<p>So where does this leave our understanding of alcohol problems in rural and remote Australia? If Banjo Paterson and Henry Lawson were right in 1892, then things have changed. </p>
<p>Rates of alcohol consumption now appear higher in rural and remote communities and, unsurprisingly, so do rates of alcohol-related harm. Most obviously among these is drink driving among young men to which we desperately need a solution.</p>
<p>But Banjo and Henry had the luxury of artistic licence that doesn’t extend to academia. </p>
<p>It also seems to be the case that the extent of differences between rural communities varies significantly, and perhaps almost disappears between some rural and urban communities. This suggests that the most fruitful approach to managing alcohol consumption and harms is likely to be at the level of local government areas, not at the level of the bush versus the city. </p>
<p>There’s no reason why researchers and local governments can’t work together to identify and respond to their own alcohol-related harms, be they rural or urban.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/9957/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anthony Shakeshaft does, or has, received funding for his research from the National Health and Medical Research Council; Australian Research Council; the NSW Ministry of Health; and the Australian Government's Department of Health. He is a Member of the National Health and Medical Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter Miller receives funding from the National Drug Law Enforcement Research Fund and the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p>So you’re back from up the country, Mister Lawson, where you went, And you’re cursing all the business in a bitter discontent; Well, we grieve to disappoint you, and it makes us sad to hear, That it wasn’t…Anthony Shakeshaft, Associate Professor and Deputy Director at National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, UNSW SydneyPeter Miller, Principal Research Fellow, Deakin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/159882013-07-17T20:45:12Z2013-07-17T20:45:12ZCould a regulated cannabis market help curb Australia’s drinking problem?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/27599/original/dvdz9kpr-1374044495.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Australia has strong cultural barriers to looking at the legal status of cannabis and alcohol in the same frame.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Elvert Barnes</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Alcohol is a serious problem in Australia, both on the weekend streets and more widely behind the closed doors. It’s time we started a conversation about what can be done to help, and we should consider if legalising cannabis is a viable option. </p>
<p>Here’s a snapshot of what alcohol is doing in just one state. Among <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1753-6405.2010.00568.x/abstract">Victorians generally</a> and <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1753-6405.2008.00227.x/full">young people especially</a>, casualties from alcohol are not only high but have been rising. </p>
<p>In 2009, the most recent year in which the government has collected the data, <a href="http://www.health.vic.gov.au/vdapc/downloads/vyads-report-01092010.pdf">42% of Victorians</a> aged 16 to 24 had drunk 20 or more drinks in a day sometime in the last year. That’s 60% more than had done this in 2002.</p>
<p>Among the 15% who had done this in 2009 at least once a month, 40% had been injured after drinking, 28% said they had created a public disturbance or nuisance, 19% had damaged property, and 13% had physically abused someone. </p>
<p>Statistics like these suggest that our laws on psychoactive substances may have channelled young people’s socialising and experimentation in a very harmful direction. </p>
<p>It’s time to rebalance laws, not only to cut down how much we are drinking, but also to reconsider whether young experimenters, and those around them, might be better off if the experiments were with another drug, such as cannabis. </p>
<p>But there are strong cultural barriers to starting a public conversation about this. Earlier this month, a reporter found a YouTube clip, apparently posted in May, from a 2012 European meeting where I had been asked to make an argument why young people would be better off on cannabis than on alcohol. </p>
<p>There was no “news peg” for the story, nothing more immediate than the old video clip. But the resulting <a href="http://www.heraldsun.com.au/lifestyle/health-fitness/expert-calls-for-marijuana-to-be-legalised-to-reduce-harm-of-binge-drinking-in-teens/story-fni0diac-1226676714223">Herald-Sun interview</a> created quite a media splash, reaching <a href="http://ekstrabladet.dk/nyheder/samfund/article2037540.ece">as far as Denmark</a>. </p>
<h2>Different approaches</h2>
<p>It’s stating the obvious to say that cannabis and alcohol are treated very differently in Australian society.</p>
<p>Cannabis is illegal everywhere, even though it is widely used (about <a href="http://www.aihw.gov.au/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=10737421314&libID=10737421314">one in five Australians</a> aged 18 to 29 say they have used it in the last 12 months); in 2009 in Victoria, the figure was 27% of those aged 18-24. </p>
<p>Substantial police resources are devoted to enforcing its illegality.</p>
<p>Alcohol is not only legal, but easily and cheaply available – day, evening and often at night - and heavily promoted.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.aihw.gov.au/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=10737421314&libID=10737421314">Seven out eight Australians</a> aged 14 and over have had a drink in the last 12 months, 20% drank enough (more than 14 drinks per week) to put their long-term health at risk, and 28% drank heavily enough on an occasion to be at risk of injury (5 or more drinks at least once a month). </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/27594/original/qvskvmpx-1374041940.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/27594/original/qvskvmpx-1374041940.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=379&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/27594/original/qvskvmpx-1374041940.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=379&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/27594/original/qvskvmpx-1374041940.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=379&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/27594/original/qvskvmpx-1374041940.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/27594/original/qvskvmpx-1374041940.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/27594/original/qvskvmpx-1374041940.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Alcohol is not only legal, but easily and cheaply available and heavily promoted.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Barbara Wittmann</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Enormous police and emergency resources are devoted to alcohol problems, but largely to mopping up after the trouble has occurred.</p>
<p>No-one can convincingly contest that, in Australian society, the problems from alcohol are much greater than the problems from cannabis. </p>
<p>But what is not taken into account is that this is not just a matter of alcohol being more widely used and available. It also reflects differences in intrinsic harmfulness – in terms of health problems, casualties and social harms.</p>
<p>In a <a href="http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(10)61462-6/abstract">2010 study published in The Lancet</a>, expert ratings of the harmfulness of 20 psychoactive substances on 16 different criteria, including harm to others as well to as to the substance user, gave alcohol the highest score (72 out of 100). The score for cannabis was 20. </p>
<p>In other words, cannabis use certainly carries the risk of harms, but not on anything like the scale of alcohol. One example of alcohol’s special capacity for harm is that of all the drugs, legal and illegal, it has the <a href="http://www.ukcia.org/research/AgressiveBehavior.pdf">clearest causal relation to violence</a>.</p>
<h2>Time to reconsider</h2>
<p>Given such findings, it makes sense to re-examine policies about both drugs. Is the current prohibition system the best solution for cannabis, given that it is clearly not very effective? </p>
<p>Would a controlled legal market, with sellers who can lose their license if they don’t follow the rules, give governments better control over access to cannabis? In such a system, a licensed seller should have something at stake, such as losing their license selling to the underaged. </p>
<p>These questions are currently being seriously tackled in places such as Colorado and Washington state in the United States and Uruguay. Surely, the time has come for them to be tackled in Australia.</p>
<p>It’s also time to look again at alcohol laws in Australia. A century ago, there was a clear recognition of the serious problems Australia had with alcohol. And there were serious and successful efforts to bring down rates of problems from alcohol. </p>
<p>The Victorian government, for instance, bought out the licenses of half the pubs in the state, eliminating the most problematic sellers. With a combination of social movements and regulation - along with an economic depression – alcohol consumption per capita was reduced to one-quarter of what it is today.</p>
<p>There was a <a href="http://www.readperiodicals.com//201006/2101245641.html">long reaction against that era</a> – for generations, no Australian politician has wanted to be thought to be a wowser. In the process, the substantial problems associated with alcohol were forgotten or ignored, so that national competition policies, for instance, have treated alcohol as just another consumer product.</p>
<h2>Promoting alcohol: hook ‘em in with loss leaders</h2>
<p>Alcohol is not only widely available, but also actively promoted, for instance, along with cricket or footy on free television. And politicians have bowed to the commercial interests involved, often ignoring alcohol’s public health impacts. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/27596/original/37y7r7hd-1374042105.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/27596/original/37y7r7hd-1374042105.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/27596/original/37y7r7hd-1374042105.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/27596/original/37y7r7hd-1374042105.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/27596/original/37y7r7hd-1374042105.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/27596/original/37y7r7hd-1374042105.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/27596/original/37y7r7hd-1374042105.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Cannabis and alcohol are treated very differently in Australian society.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Park Ranger/Flickr</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The July 14 edition of the Sydney Morning Herald, for instance, <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/government-bows-to-liquor-industry-on-discounts-20130713-2px3h.html">tells us</a> that Woolworths and Coles have managed to persuade the New South Wales government to “backflip” on a proposed ban on shopping docket discounts. </p>
<p>These two supermarket chains already account for almost half of all alcohol sales in Australia and the discount vouchers aim to increase this by attracting grocery customers to the chains’ liquor stores with two-for-one offers. </p>
<p>The chains’ arguments against the ban portray alcohol as a product alongside corn flakes and toilet paper, not acknowledging that it causes special social and health problems.</p>
<p>If we are serious about reducing the toll from alcohol in Australia, governments need to make some serious changes. There is <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1360-0443.2010.02945.x/pdf">clear evidence</a> that measures such as reducing the hours of sale, reducing the number of outlets, and raising the minimum price of alcohol would be effective. </p>
<p>Every Australian jurisdiction forbids selling another drink to a person who is already intoxicated, but nowhere is this adequately enforced - sellers don’t lose their licenses over it.</p>
<p>That the Australian political system is not doing well in controlling alcohol is important to keep in mind when thinking about creating a regulated market for cannabis. We should also take the experience with tobacco into account. </p>
<p>In a free-market era, with commercial interests pressing their case at international, national, state and local levels, how can a market with tough regulations be kept so? And is prohibition the only solution that can take public health interests into account? </p>
<p>The answer to this does not have to be yes. On other issues where commercial interests are at stake, such as crash-proof cars and food safety, regulation has succeeded in serving the public interest. But the problem of keeping commercial influences in check within regulatory regimes needs to be faced.</p>
<h2>Cultural rut</h2>
<p>The media splash after my recent encounter with the Herald Sun reflects Australia’s cultural politics when it comes to looking at the legal status of cannabis and alcohol in a common frame.</p>
<p>The attention to the issues was quite unbalanced – almost all on the cannabis side. Despite changing public attitudes on cannabis, Australian politics steers clear of any discussion of change from the status quo. </p>
<p>Instead, we get a kind of joking pornography about something that is commonplace behaviour but illegal and officially disapproved – lots of shots of cannabis leaves, joints and tokers. And a police superintendent being asked by the press if he ever inhaled, with everyone including the superintendent breaking up in laughter when he says no. </p>
<p>Such media coverage distracts us from any chance of a serious policy discussion. But looking at the legal status of cannabis and alcohol in the same frame is still too shocking to be taken seriously.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/15988/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robin Room's research has been funded in recent years by the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education, the National Health and Medical Research Council, the Australian Research Council, VicHealth, the Victorian Department of Health, government research bodies in Sweden and the U.S., the Beckley and the Colonial Foundations, and the World Health Organization.</span></em></p>Alcohol is a serious problem in Australia, both on the weekend streets and more widely behind the closed doors. It’s time we started a conversation about what can be done to help, and we should consider…Robin Room, Director, Centre for Alcohol Policy Research, Turning Point Alcohol & Drug Centre; Professor of Population Health & Chair of Social Research in Alcohol, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/127802013-03-14T00:03:35Z2013-03-14T00:03:35ZThree cheers for the possibility of sensible alcohol policy<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/21172/original/526k7d7z-1363131965.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Alcohol control is not an area for win-win policies and lately, the community has been losing heavily.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Carsten Nielsen</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Many Australians believe that there isn’t much we can do about our dangerous levels of alcohol consumption. But the real difficulty is that we don’t know how to get effective prevention policies through the political maze.</p>
<p>Many people believe that nothing prevents alcohol problems and that there’s no treatment for it. This is not the case – we do know how to reduce these problems and treatment is about as effective as medical treatments for other common, chronic health problems. </p>
<p>The problem with alcohol, in fact, lies elsewhere. The all-powerful drinks industry, representing about 2% of GDP, ensures that any politician publicly supporting effective policies to reduce alcohol problems will soon spend much more time with her family.</p>
<p>Alcohol is consumed very unequally in our community – a minority drink a lot while most drink much less. The heaviest drinking 10% of the community account for half the alcohol consumed. Interfering with that 50% of alcohol consumption would have a huge impact on the alcohol industry’s bottom line. </p>
<p>This is not an area for win-win policies. And, lately, the community has been losing heavily.</p>
<p>Among people interested in alcohol prevention around the world, there’s a strong consensus about <a href="http://www.apolnet.ca/resources/pubs/Alcohol-NoOrdinary2-Summary.pdf">what works and what doesn’t</a>. Increasing the price of alcohol even slightly has a noticeable benefit. So if we were serious about trying to reduce alcohol-related problems, we would tax alcoholic drinks differently (according to their alcohol content rather than their beverage class). </p>
<p>Alcohol taxation in Australia makes no economic sense and even less sense as a public policy. The federal treasury decides alcohol taxes and only considers economics factors. And the states and territories don’t influence tax policy even though they pay most of the costs in terms of hospitals, police, courts and prisons. </p>
<p>Economists call this inefficient arrangement – where one level of government raises revenue while another pays the costs – “vertical fiscal imbalance”. The public likes to see some of the revenue allocated to alcohol prevention and treatment, though treasury always opposes hypothecated taxes. When the Northern Territory government <a href="http://db.ndri.curtin.edu.au/research/abstract.asp?pubid=1365">introduced a taxing policy</a> like this in the 1990s, alcohol problems fell dramatically.</p>
<p>The number of outlets selling alcohol has proliferated in recent decades, largely because of competition policy. We now have far too many outlets with far too liberal conditions. And we know that slightly <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3041930/">shorter opening hours in Newcastle</a> reduced alcohol-related violence by 37%. Sadly, in the battle between community interests and the drinks industry over outlet numbers and conditions, the industry wins every time. </p>
<p>There’s growing evidence (not yet quite as good as for taxation and availability reform) that curbing alcohol advertising, marketing and promotion reduces alcohol problems. Young children now recognise alcohol brands many years before they have their first drink. We saw with tobacco just how important advertising, marketing and promotion were in getting young Australians to start smoking. </p>
<p>The five major motor sports events in Australia are sponsored by the drinks industry. In a number of other countries, the drinks industry bans advertising at motor sports events. It writes the rules and provides the judge and jury for alcohol advertising regulation, even though self-regulation is to regulation what self-importance is to importance.</p>
<p>Herb Stein, an economics adviser to former US president Richard Nixon, used to say that “things that can’t go on forever don’t”. Forty years ago, the tobacco industry seemed invincible. But after decades of relentless pressure, the public-health David has now largely tamed the tobacco-industry Goliath. </p>
<p>It’s time that the community told our political masters enough is enough. If all the major political parties crossed the line together, Australians would be healthier and safer and still be able to enjoy alcohol.</p>
<p>In 2003, the then-NSW government <a href="https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2003/179/10/nsw-alcohol-summit-getting-better-grip-our-favourite-drug">convened an alcohol summit</a>. There were some benefits from this meeting but, in many ways, we are further behind now than we were when that summit was held. Today, there is a <a href="http://www.fare.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Summit-Draft-Program-Twitter-Guide.pdf">meeting in the NSW parliament</a> to discuss how well we are balancing the benefits and harms of our favourite drug. Maybe this time we will work out how to thread effective policies through the political maze.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/12780/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alex Wodak does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Many Australians believe that there isn’t much we can do about our dangerous levels of alcohol consumption. But the real difficulty is that we don’t know how to get effective prevention policies through…Alex Wodak, Emeritus Consultant, St Vincent's Hospital, DarlinghurstLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/124572013-03-01T00:30:29Z2013-03-01T00:30:29ZForbidden fruit: are children tricked into wanting alcohol?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/20749/original/sqx233y9-1362015004.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Portraying alcohol as 'forbidden fruit' makes it more attractive to young people.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Chris Goldberg</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Over the years, we have become accustomed to alcohol companies and their allies seeking to convince us of their concern about alcohol problems and responsible use of alcohol. Their efforts range from desperately inept advertisements to labels on some products that provide (in small print) advice that is less than compelling (e.g. “Is your drinking harming yourself or others? Get the facts – Drinkwise.org.au”), or admonitions such as “drink responsibly” in barely visible fonts.</p>
<p>A large hoarding for Miller beer (see below) recently placed approximately 800 metres from a large school in Perth alongside a subway through which many children pass every day, eschewed the small print in favour of a very visible message that the product is “18+” and “for people over the age of 18 only”.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/20697/original/ym2dz3nb-1361933087.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/20697/original/ym2dz3nb-1361933087.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/20697/original/ym2dz3nb-1361933087.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/20697/original/ym2dz3nb-1361933087.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/20697/original/ym2dz3nb-1361933087.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/20697/original/ym2dz3nb-1361933087.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/20697/original/ym2dz3nb-1361933087.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Miller billboard advertisement at the corner of Nicholson Road and Railway Parade in Shenton Park, Western Australia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">McCusker Centre, Curtin University</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Miller beer has had an association of more than 30 years with the Philip Morris/Altria tobacco group, which currently owns approximately 27% of SAB Miller. The SAB Miller board includes four current or former Philip Morris/Altria leaders, including long-time chairman and CEO, Geoffrey Bible.</p>
<p>The tobacco industry has known for decades about the value of promoting smoking as an adult habit – as forbidden fruit for young people.</p>
<p>Tobacco industry <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1447482/">documents show</a> that presenting smoking as an “adult choice”, a “forbidden fruit” and an “act of rebellion” have been “common industry marketing themes”.</p>
<p>An Imperial Tobacco <a href="http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/taj66b00">marketing research report</a> from 1977 noted:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Of course, one of the very things that are attractive is [the] mere fact that cigarettes are forbidden fruit…when the adolescent is looking for something that at the same time makes them feel different and also makes them feel that they are old enough to ignore this weight of authority so as to feel that they have made their own choice, what better could be found than a cigarette? It is not just a smoke. It is a statement, a naughty adventure, a milestone episode. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The Philip Morris company even ran literal “forbidden fruit” messages in full page advertisements in news magazines aimed at parents. And there is also <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3119705/">research showing</a> that the perception of smoking as “forbidden fruit” significantly predicted smoking intentions. Indeed, the authors of a <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3119705/">major study</a> in this area recommend that education programs “should incorporate strategies/messages counteracting the FF perspectives…”.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/mh-L8EJAgvk?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>We know that over the years tobacco companies used “smoking prevention” programs to head off further constraints, as well as to legitimise research on and access to young people. There is also <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1698148/">good evidence</a> that tobacco company educational programs brought no benefits, but were indeed likely to be counter-productive. </p>
<p>Once-confidential industry documents show that these programs were intended to serve the industry’s interests and political needs, not least by preventing more effective action. They <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1447482/">were also for</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>preserving the industry’s access to youths, creating allies within policymaking and regulatory bodies, defusing opposition from parents and educators, bolstering industry credibility, and preserving the industry’s influence with policymakers.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>A <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23322312">recently published paper</a> shows that industry “education” advertisements even appear to have a priming effect on smokers. </p>
<p>One might argue that the alcohol industry has derived similar benefits from the education programs it has supported over the years, notwithstanding the <a href="http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/vtk71b00">ringingly sincere position</a> drafted for the Philip Morris CEO in an internal briefing book in 1996, when Philip Morris owned the Miller Brewing company: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>it’s good business for the industry to promote responsible drinking. These promotions are not ploys. They are sincere comprehensive programs implemented by brewers and distributors. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>This is some way from the conclusions of <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16813484">an American study</a> that “the evidence indicates that beer companies achieved advantageous outcomes to a large extent with these ‘drink responsibly’ campaigns and the interpretations tended to be mostly prodrinking”. They add “seemingly prohealth messages can serve to subtly advance both industry sales and public relations interests” and “the appearance of addressing the problem may preempt more persuasive campaign efforts from government agencies and prevention organizations.”</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/20707/original/g7bcd9qb-1361934961.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/20707/original/g7bcd9qb-1361934961.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/20707/original/g7bcd9qb-1361934961.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/20707/original/g7bcd9qb-1361934961.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/20707/original/g7bcd9qb-1361934961.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/20707/original/g7bcd9qb-1361934961.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/20707/original/g7bcd9qb-1361934961.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Corona billboard at the corner of Nicholson Road and Railway Parade at Shenton Park, Western Australia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">McCusker Centre, Curtin University</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Alongside the Miller Beer advertisement, on the other side of the subway, was another, equally large advertisement for Corona beer (see above). No warnings, just glamorous young people drinking on a beach. </p>
<p>Isn’t it good to know that, as the <a href="http://www.corona.com/home/index.jsp">Corona website assures</a> us, “We at Corona work to model responsible drinking throughout our advertising and actions as a company” and that the Corona Grupo Modelo education program (of which this author has never seen any traces in Australia) claims to “spread the message of responsible drinking among students, authorities, teachers and parents through a variety of practices.”</p>
<p>Those accessing the Corona website are told, “You have to be old enough to enter this site”. Given that there are no further constraints or checks, a cynic might see this as something of a dare or encouragement to teens to enter an earlier birth date. More forbidden fruit.</p>
<p>Alcohol advertising is expensively and meticulously researched. Alcohol companies are not likely to receive plaudits from their shareholders for reducing their present or future markets. Indeed, in September 2012, the marketing director of SAB Miller’s Australian Carlton United Brewers was quoted as saying:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I think the first thing is we need to find ways to work harder to make people drink more and drink at higher value…</p>
</blockquote>
<p>These billboard advertisements, like other alcohol ads in locations passed by children, come and go. Miller Beer is not alone in emphasising that alcohol products are for adults. Is it too cynical to suggest that advertisements such as this, from a company so closely associated with the tobacco industry, may be helping to portray alcohol as “forbidden fruit” to which children and young people might aspire? </p>
<p>It is hard to credit that anybody other than the alcohol industry and its supporters takes seriously the self-regulatory codes that are supposed to protect children from alcohol advertising. Hence the current increasing pressure for regulation. </p>
<p>Surely, it is also time to ensure that any warning messages, whether about health or directed to children and young people, are developed by our health authorities, rather than by alcohol industry organisations, and global companies whose purpose is to sell as much of their product as possible.</p>
<p><em>This is the final part of our series looking at alcohol and the drinking culture in Australia. Click on the links below to read the other articles:</em></p>
<p><strong>Part One:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-brief-history-of-alcohol-consumption-in-australia-10580">A brief history of alcohol consumption in Australia</a></p>
<p><strong>Part Two:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/social-acceptance-of-alcohol-allows-us-to-ignore-its-harms-10045">Social acceptance of alcohol allows us to ignore its harms</a></p>
<p><strong>Part Three:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/my-drinking-your-problem-alcohol-hurts-non-drinkers-too-12424">My drinking, your problem: alcohol hurts non-drinkers too</a></p>
<p><strong>Part Four:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/alcohol-fuelled-violence-on-the-rise-despite-falling-consumption-9892">Alcohol-fuelled violence on the rise despite falling consumption</a></p>
<p><strong>Part Five:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/as-a-matter-of-fact-ive-got-it-now-alcohol-advertising-and-sport-9909">‘As a matter of fact, I’ve got it now’: alcohol advertising and sport</a></p>
<p><strong>Part Six:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/advertisings-role-in-how-young-people-interact-with-alcohol-9986">Advertising’s role in how young people interact with alcohol</a></p>
<p><strong>Part Seven:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/big-alcohol-and-big-tobacco-boozem-buddies-9668">Big Alcohol and Big Tobacco – boozem buddies?</a></p>
<p><strong>Part Eight:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-foetal-alcohol-spectrum-disorders-9871">Explainer: foetal alcohol spectrum disorders</a></p>
<p><strong>Part Nine:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/alcohol-warning-labels-and-valuable-label-real-estate-9813">‘Valuable label real estate’ and alcohol warning labels</a></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/12457/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mike Daube is Director of the McCusker Centre for Action on Alcohol and Youth</span></em></p>Over the years, we have become accustomed to alcohol companies and their allies seeking to convince us of their concern about alcohol problems and responsible use of alcohol. Their efforts range from desperately…Mike Daube, Professor of Health Policy, Curtin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/98132013-02-28T19:22:34Z2013-02-28T19:22:34ZAlcohol warning labels and ‘valuable label real estate’<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/20741/original/rjyy64t5-1362013623.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The government’s discussions with the industry about voluntary labelling have not been transparent.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jesús León</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>There’s a <a href="http://www.foodstandards.gov.au/foodstandards/userguides/labellingofalcoholic4967.cfm">legal requirement</a> in Australia for all packaged alcohol to show the alcohol content of the beverage and the number of standard drinks. But there’s no need for the label to bear any information about the <a href="http://www.nhmrc.gov.au/your-health/alcohol-guidelines/alcohol-and-health-australia">well-known health risks</a> of consuming alcohol. </p>
<p>The Commonwealth government is being urged to introduce warnings on alcoholic beverages. The alcohol industry says it’s not completely <a href="http://www.nhmrc.gov.au/your-health/alcohol-guidelines/alcohol-and-health-australia">opposed to labels</a>, but is determined to find ways to protect its “<a href="http://www.alsa.com.au/fileadmin/alsa-2009/Blewett_Review_FINAL.pdf">valuable label real estate</a>”. </p>
<h2>The case for alcohol warnings</h2>
<p>The Commonwealth government has received recommendations from its own advisory bodies that health information and warnings be mandated on alcoholic beverage containers, as part of a cohesive government strategy for reducing alcohol-related harm. </p>
<p>The first recommendation came from the <a href="http://www.preventativehealth.org.au/internet/preventativehealth/publishing.nsf/Content/CCD7323311E358BECA2575FD000859E1/$File/nphs-roadmap-5.pdf">National Preventative Health Taskforce</a> in 2009. The second (in 2011), came from the <a href="http://www.foodlabellingreview.gov.au/internet/foodlabelling/publishing.nsf/content/48c0548d80e715bcca257825001e5dc0/$file/labelling%20logic_2011.pdf">food labelling review</a>, which recommended specific warnings about drinking during pregnancy, and generic warnings about other health risks (such as alcohol is harmful to your health). </p>
<p>These calls for the Commonwealth to legislate for warnings on alcohol labels have been backed by the <a href="http://www.fare.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/AER-Policy-Paper_FINAL.pdf">Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education</a>, the <a href="http://ama.com.au/position-statement/alcohol-consumption-and-alcohol-related-harms-2012">Australian Medical Association</a> and the <a href="http://www.phaa.net.au/documents/101126Attachmenttosub-NAAAPositionStatement-Reducingharmfromalcohol-creatingahealthierAustralia.pdf">National Alliance for Action on Alcohol</a>. </p>
<p><a href="http://carbc.ca/Portals/0/PropertyAgent/558/Files/7/AlcWarningLabels.pdf">Several other countries</a>, such as the United States, South Korea and Brazil, require text-based warnings on alcohol containers. Studies of US labelling show evidence that alcohol warnings have effects on knowledge and attitudes about drinking, and “intervening variables”, such as intention to change drinking habits, willingness to discuss drinking, and being willing to intervene when seeing hazardous drinking in others.</p>
<p>There’s minimal evidence that warnings on alcoholic beverages change drinking behaviour. But if the labels are to impact behaviour, they need to be more graphic and visible than they have been in the past. Australia’s <a href="http://www.yourhealth.gov.au/internet/yourhealth/publishing.nsf/Content/tobacco-label-images">tobacco warnings</a> are an example of how successful product warnings can be.</p>
<h2>The Commonwealth’s response</h2>
<p>In December 2011, the Commonwealth government announced it was still considering whether to introduce generic warnings on alcohol, but that it was “prudent” to have warnings on alcohol about the specific risks from drinking during pregnancy. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/20745/original/y67fzzg6-1362014141.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/20745/original/y67fzzg6-1362014141.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/20745/original/y67fzzg6-1362014141.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/20745/original/y67fzzg6-1362014141.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/20745/original/y67fzzg6-1362014141.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/20745/original/y67fzzg6-1362014141.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/20745/original/y67fzzg6-1362014141.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">It’s safest to not drink while pregnant.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">U.S. Department of Agriculture</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The <a href="http://www.nhmrc.gov.au/your-health/alcohol-guidelines">National Health and Medical Research Council</a> guidelines state that for women who are pregnant or planning a pregnancy, it is safest not to drink when pregnant or planning a pregnancy. This reflects the concern about maternal alcohol consumption and <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-foetal-alcohol-spectrum-disorders-9871">foetal alcohol spectrum disorders</a>.</p>
<p>At this stage, the Commonwealth could have mandated a legal standard that alcoholic beverage containers bear pregnancy warnings in a prescribed format. Admittedly, this is not an entirely straight-forward process because of a treaty between Australia and New Zealand about joint food standards (including alcohol), and the sharing of food regulation powers between the Commonwealth and the states/territories. </p>
<p>Regardless, the government hasn’t mandated warnings. Instead, it has given the alcohol industry two years – until December 2013 – to introduce these warnings on a voluntary basis. And it seems that the government will only pass a labelling law if it’s not satisfied with what the industry has done by that deadline.</p>
<h2>Self-regulation is the wrong approach</h2>
<p>Alcohol labelling is not an appropriate matter for industry self-regulation. Foetal alcohol spectrum disorders are a serious public health issue that government has the responsibility and capacity to address. The alcohol industry has no special expertise in devising solutions to such problems. And it has a vested interest in limiting the size and impact of the warnings. </p>
<p>Allowing industry to self-regulate reduces both government and industry accountability. And it prevents a proper parliamentary debate about alcohol labelling that the public can participate in. </p>
<p>Indeed, the government’s discussions with the industry about voluntary labelling haven’t even been transparent. Has the government promised not to regulate if the industry does X or Y? And does it have any criteria by which it will judge whether the alcohol industry has done a good enough job at the end of 2013?</p>
<h2>The industry’s weak voluntary efforts</h2>
<p>The alcohol industry’s efforts to get pregnancy warnings onto alcohol containers are being lead by the industry-funded organisation, <a href="http://www.drinkwise.org.au/">DrinkWise</a>. Drinkwise recommends that that one of the following warnings be used on alcoholic beverages: </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/20736/original/hxkjkhq8-1362011522.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/20736/original/hxkjkhq8-1362011522.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/20736/original/hxkjkhq8-1362011522.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/20736/original/hxkjkhq8-1362011522.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/20736/original/hxkjkhq8-1362011522.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=523&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/20736/original/hxkjkhq8-1362011522.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=523&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/20736/original/hxkjkhq8-1362011522.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=523&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There has been <a href="http://www.fare.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/IPSOS-SRI-DRINKWISE-AUDIT-REPORT-1-AUGUST-2012.pdf">poor take-up</a> of the DrinkWise pregnancy warnings. As at June 2012, only 4% of surveyed beers and ciders carried such a message, along with only 2% of wine, spirits and ready-to-drink products.</p>
<p>The industry is also not doing well at making the warnings visible or prominent. The same <a href="http://www.fare.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/IPSOS-SRI-DRINKWISE-AUDIT-REPORT-1-AUGUST-2012.pdf">recent survey</a> found that where the surveyed alcohol products bore a DrinkWise message, in 98% of cases, the message took up less than 5% of the alcohol label or packaging. It also found that labels were “on the margins …and rarely in central or prominent positions”.</p>
<p>The Commonwealth should not waste any more time on industry self-regulation of alcohol warnings. This government is generally too reticent in its regulation of the alcohol industry. In December 2013, it should act to mandate prominent, strongly-worded, graphic alcohol warning labels, and commission a proper study on the impact of those labels. </p>
<p><em>This is the ninth part of our series looking at alcohol and the drinking culture in Australia. Click on the links below to read the other articles:</em></p>
<p><strong>Part One:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-brief-history-of-alcohol-consumption-in-australia-10580">A brief history of alcohol consumption in Australia</a></p>
<p><strong>Part Two:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/social-acceptance-of-alcohol-allows-us-to-ignore-its-harms-10045">Social acceptance of alcohol allows us to ignore its harms</a></p>
<p><strong>Part Three:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/my-drinking-your-problem-alcohol-hurts-non-drinkers-too-12424">My drinking, your problem: alcohol hurts non-drinkers too</a></p>
<p><strong>Part Four:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/alcohol-fuelled-violence-on-the-rise-despite-falling-consumption-9892">Alcohol-fuelled violence on the rise despite falling consumption</a></p>
<p><strong>Part Five:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/as-a-matter-of-fact-ive-got-it-now-alcohol-advertising-and-sport-9909">‘As a matter of fact, I’ve got it now’: alcohol advertising and sport</a></p>
<p><strong>Part Six:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/advertisings-role-in-how-young-people-interact-with-alcohol-9986">Advertising’s role in how young people interact with alcohol</a></p>
<p><strong>Part Seven:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/big-alcohol-and-big-tobacco-boozem-buddies-9668">Big Alcohol and Big Tobacco – boozem buddies?</a></p>
<p><strong>Part Eight:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-foetal-alcohol-spectrum-disorders-9871">Explainer: foetal alcohol spectrum disorders</a></p>
<p><strong>Part Ten:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/forbidden-fruit-are-children-tricked-into-wanting-alcohol-12457">Forbidden fruit: are children tricked into wanting alcohol?</a></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/9813/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paula O'Brien does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>There’s a legal requirement in Australia for all packaged alcohol to show the alcohol content of the beverage and the number of standard drinks. But there’s no need for the label to bear any information…Paula O'Brien, Senior Lecturer in Faculty of Law, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/98712013-02-28T00:11:33Z2013-02-28T00:11:33ZExplainer: foetal alcohol spectrum disorders<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/20732/original/mv7qq5ww-1362008424.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">It's impossible to know how much alcohol is safe to consume during pregnancy.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jason Coleman</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The debate about alcohol’s harms is seemingly endless: the role of alcohol in violence, unplanned sex, injury and motor vehicle accidents, the teen binge-drinking epidemic, the risks of cancer and liver disease from chronic alcohol use and raising the legal age for purchase have all been discussed. Notably absent from the discussion is the effect of alcohol on the unborn child. </p>
<p>Foetal exposure to alcohol can have devastating consequences, impairing the subsequent growth, neurodevelopment, learning, and quality of life for the child.</p>
<h2>Alcohol is toxic to the foetal brain</h2>
<p>Alcohol is a teratogen, or toxin, that readily crosses the placenta. When a pregnant woman drinks, the foetus is bathed by blood containing alcohol, which can disrupt development of the brain, internal organs and face. </p>
<p>Foetal alcohol spectrum disorders encompasses a range of disorders that may result from alcohol exposure in the womb, including foetal alcohol syndrome, neurodevelopmental disorder associated with alcohol exposure, and a range of alcohol-related birth defects. </p>
<p>In north America, foetal alcohol spectrum disorders are the most common cause of developmental delay and <a href="http://www.fasdoutreach.ca/blog/admin/2011/10/dr-phillip-may-fasd-prevalence-rates">are said to affect</a> between 2% and 7% of all births. </p>
<p>Children with foetal alcohol spectrum disorders have <a href="http://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/arh40/118-126.htm">variable clinical features</a>. They may have a small or structurally abnormal brain, but even in the absence of such changes, they may have significant abnormalities of function, including problems with learning that limit their academic achievement. Ultimately, this <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17704098">affects their capacity</a> for employment and independent living. </p>
<p>Although the IQ range for such children is wide, they have particular problems with memory, executive function (planning and conduct of complex tasks), and numeracy. They often require remedial education, and frequently exhibit difficult behaviours (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, conduct and oppositional disorders, risk-taking, anxiety and depression). They may have either solitary or overly-friendly personalities. </p>
<p>These children may grow poorly and have defects, and hence abnormal function, of the heart, kidneys, ears, eyes and other organs. <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17704098">These problems</a> don’t go away. </p>
<p>Foetal alcohol spectrum <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12695315">disorders are lifelong</a> and as children enter adolescence, they are at higher risk than the general population of drug and alcohol dependence, anti-social and inappropriate sexual behaviours, mental health disorders, trouble with the law and incarceration. </p>
<p>But these disorders are preventable.</p>
<h2>Safe drinking and pregnancy</h2>
<p>People frequently ask how much alcohol is safe during pregnancy. Of course, this can never be answered based in human studies, and I think that it may, in fact, be irrelevant.</p>
<p>We know that women who drink no alcohol during pregnancy pose no risk to their foetus. And we know that frequent, high intake, particularly binge drinking, increases the risk. We also know that birth defects may result from first trimester alcohol exposure but that the brain is vulnerable to damage throughout the pregnancy. </p>
<p>And we know that risk to an individual pregnancy is impossible to predict because maternal (and hence foetal) blood alcohol levels are influenced by a range of factors including age, body composition, genetics and prior disease. So it’s better to apply the precautionary principle as recommended in Australia’s <a href="http://www.nhmrc.gov.au/your-health/alcohol-guidelines">national alcohol guidelines</a> – “for women who are pregnant or planning a pregnancy, not drinking alcohol is the safest option.” </p>
<p>Adding to this complexity is the high rate of unplanned pregnancy, estimated at around 50%, which suggests that inadvertent alcohol exposure may be common.</p>
<h2>Prevention is the only option</h2>
<p>Strategies to address foetal alcohol spectrum disorder have to focus on prevention. We need highlight the potential harms of alcohol use in pregnancy, as many women and their partners <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20727217">just don’t know</a> about it. This will involve public education strategies, including labelling of alcoholic beverages. </p>
<p>But labelling will only effectively improve knowledge if mandated and enforced, not left to the alcohol industry. Labels must be legible, prominent, and informative. </p>
<p>A recent survey by the <a href="http://www.fare.org.au/">Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education</a> (FARE) has <a href="http://www.fare.org.au/research-development/community-polling/annual-alcohol-poll-2012/awareness-of-standard-drinks-and-the-guidelines/">showed that</a>, under the current voluntary code, only 16% of alcoholic beverages were labelled and many of these were unreadable or simply referred to a website.</p>
<p>And this brings me back to the debate about alcohol raging in our community. Preventing foetal alcohol spectrum disorder, like all other alcohol-related harms, requires <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21781309">attitudinal and behavioural change</a>. Prohibition is not the solution and behavioural change must be supported by interventions with proven efficacy. </p>
<p><em>This is the eighth part of our series looking at alcohol and the drinking culture in Australia. Click on the links below to read the other articles:</em></p>
<p><strong>Part One:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-brief-history-of-alcohol-consumption-in-australia-10580">A brief history of alcohol consumption in Australia</a></p>
<p><strong>Part Two:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/social-acceptance-of-alcohol-allows-us-to-ignore-its-harms-10045">Social acceptance of alcohol allows us to ignore its harms</a></p>
<p><strong>Part Three:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/my-drinking-your-problem-alcohol-hurts-non-drinkers-too-12424">My drinking, your problem: alcohol hurts non-drinkers too</a></p>
<p><strong>Part Four:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/alcohol-fuelled-violence-on-the-rise-despite-falling-consumption-9892">Alcohol-fuelled violence on the rise despite falling consumption</a></p>
<p><strong>Part Five:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/as-a-matter-of-fact-ive-got-it-now-alcohol-advertising-and-sport-9909">‘As a matter of fact, I’ve got it now’: alcohol advertising and sport</a></p>
<p><strong>Part Six:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/advertisings-role-in-how-young-people-interact-with-alcohol-9986">Advertising’s role in how young people interact with alcohol</a></p>
<p><strong>Part Seven:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/big-alcohol-and-big-tobacco-boozem-buddies-9668">Big Alcohol and Big Tobacco – boozem buddies?</a></p>
<p><strong>Part Nine:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/alcohol-warning-labels-and-valuable-label-real-estate-9813">‘Valuable label real estate’ and alcohol warning labels</a></p>
<p><strong>Part Ten:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/forbidden-fruit-are-children-tricked-into-wanting-alcohol-12457">Forbidden fruit: are children tricked into wanting alcohol?</a></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/9871/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elizabeth Elliott does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The debate about alcohol’s harms is seemingly endless: the role of alcohol in violence, unplanned sex, injury and motor vehicle accidents, the teen binge-drinking epidemic, the risks of cancer and liver…Elizabeth Elliott, Professor of Paediatrics & Child Health, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/96682013-02-27T19:51:46Z2013-02-27T19:51:46ZBig Alcohol and Big Tobacco – boozem buddies?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/20722/original/6jfvpjr6-1361963877.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The tobacco and alcohol industries have more in common than it seems.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Benjamin Wilken</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In Australia, the most effective and efficient ways to reduce alcohol-related harm – increasing taxation, and restricting availability and alcohol promotion – are politically unpopular. This mismatch between evidence and public support says much about the successful lobbying of the alcohol industry and its “independent” apologists.</p>
<p>Alcohol is not like tobacco, the alcohol lobby constantly remind us: tobacco smoking kills half of its regular consumers but alcohol can be used in ways that don’t harm drinkers. Indeed, in low doses, they argue, alcohol may even be good for us – although as the <a href="http://www.nhmrc.gov.au/guidelines/publications/n55">National Health and Medical Research Council notes</a>, even this is debatable.</p>
<p>Alcohol can indeed be used in moderation to enhance sociability and the enjoyment of food. But sadly most of the alcohol consumed in Australia is not used in these ways. If it were, the alcohol industry would be a great deal less profitable than it is.</p>
<p>Around <a href="http://ndri.curtin.edu.au/local/docs/pdf/naip/naipaaifullreport.pdf">four-fifths of all alcohol</a> consumed in Australia by people between the ages of 14 and 24 is used in ways that put drinkers and others’ health at risk. This is why the industry opposes policies that will reduce alcohol-related harm – they will also reduce their profits.</p>
<p>The claim that alcohol and tobacco are different belies the fact that the two industries have <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1753-6405.2012.00855.x/full">long been intertwined</a>. Big Tobacco used its ill-gotten profits to buy into the alcohol industry and senior executives and board members are on the boards of major alcohol industry players (and vice versa).</p>
<p>These <a href="http://www.amj.net.au/index.php?journal=AMJ&page=article&op=viewFile&path%5B%5D=43&path%5B%5D=186">companies have long worried</a> that “Big Alcohol” is vulnerable to many of the same criticisms as Big Tobacco. Even in the 1990s, documents linked to the US alcohol industry argued that
like tobacco, the liquor industry is vulnerable to the charge that it markets its products to young people. </p>
<p>So we shouldn’t be surprised that the alcohol industry is now using many of the same tactics as Big Tobacco. It has followed the example of the tobacco industry by funding supposedly “independent” groups, such as social aspects organisations <a href="http://www.drinkwise.org.au/">Drinkwise in Australia</a> and <a href="https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/">Drinkaware in the United Kingdom</a>. </p>
<p>These are industry-funded and influenced groups that claim to be interested in reducing alcohol-related harm while failing to support public health policies and favouring plausible but largely ineffective approaches favoured by the industry, foremost among which are soft media campaigns. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/20713/original/crchm5f3-1361941184.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/20713/original/crchm5f3-1361941184.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/20713/original/crchm5f3-1361941184.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/20713/original/crchm5f3-1361941184.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/20713/original/crchm5f3-1361941184.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/20713/original/crchm5f3-1361941184.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/20713/original/crchm5f3-1361941184.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The alcohol lobby constantly reminds is that alcohol is not like tobacco.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">–arpad–/Flickr</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These bodies serve a number of purposes for the industry. They address the problems that the industry likes to claim are caused by the “minority” who abuse their products, without actually doing anything to reduce their profitability. They can obtain government funding for what amounts to alcohol industry promotional activities. And their members can secure a seat at the public policy table, where they express solemn concern about the problems their funders’ activities help promote.</p>
<p>These organisations promote alcohol policies that serve the industry’s interests by funding small media campaigns and occasional public relations activities. These are vastly outweighed by the tsunami of alcohol industry promotions that spend billions on massive, meticulously researched and carefully targeted campaigns promoting alcohol use by young adults and others.</p>
<p>These organisations distract from – and do nothing to encourage – effective alcohol control measures that are analogous to those we know have driven down tobacco smoking in Australia. These include measures (some even recommended by research that they themselves have funded) such as:</p>
<ul>
<li>increasing alcohol taxes; </li>
<li>reducing the hours of alcohol trading where public drinking causes public disorder and violence; </li>
<li>controlling the massive, unregulated promotion of alcohol in our community; </li>
<li>more effective licensing enforcement to penalise sales outlets that sell alcohol to intoxicated customers; and </li>
<li>hard-hitting, well-funded, sustained media campaigns independent of industry.</li>
</ul>
<p>Such measures are sometimes condemned (especially by the industry and its fellow travellers) as “nanny state” interference with the free choices of adults, but none of them prevent adults from drinking. At most, the access recommendations make it marginally more expensive and difficult to drink some types of alcohol, at any hour of the day or night. They simply move drinkers, especially young adults (who drink the most) toward better drinking choices.</p>
<p>Another effective measure would be to increase taxes on alcohol. This would address the fact that alcohol harms not only drinkers but also many others in their social settings, such as family members, neighbours and workmates. And a tax on alcohol that increases in proportion to the harmfulness of alcoholic beverages extracts compensation for damage caused in proportion to the amount of alcohol that each person drinks. Moderate drinkers pay very little, while heavy drinkers pay the most, as they should.</p>
<p>Until recently, the alcohol industry had free rein to spread misinformation about alcohol policy. This is changing. There’s now a consensus for action among leading health, law enforcement and related organisations and this has resulted in the formation of a <a href="http://www.phaa.net.au/documents/101126Attachmenttosub-NAAAPositionStatement-Reducingharmfromalcohol-creatingahealthierAustralia.pdf">national organisation</a> advocating effective public health policies to reduce alcohol-related harm.</p>
<p>The road to effective tobacco control took over 60 years and had to happen in the face of concerted industry obfuscation of the health risks of smoking and opposition to effective public policies. Public health advocates have learned valuable lessons from that success that should reduce the time taken to introduce effective policies that will substantially reduce the major public health problems caused by alcohol use in Australia. </p>
<p><em>This is the seventh part of our series looking at alcohol and the drinking culture in Australia. Click on the links below to read the other articles:</em></p>
<p><strong>Part One:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-brief-history-of-alcohol-consumption-in-australia-10580">A brief history of alcohol consumption in Australia</a></p>
<p><strong>Part Two:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/social-acceptance-of-alcohol-allows-us-to-ignore-its-harms-10045">Social acceptance of alcohol allows us to ignore its harms</a></p>
<p><strong>Part Three:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/my-drinking-your-problem-alcohol-hurts-non-drinkers-too-12424">My drinking, your problem: alcohol hurts non-drinkers too</a></p>
<p><strong>Part Four:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/alcohol-fuelled-violence-on-the-rise-despite-falling-consumption-9892">Alcohol-fuelled violence on the rise despite falling consumption</a></p>
<p><strong>Part Five:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/as-a-matter-of-fact-ive-got-it-now-alcohol-advertising-and-sport-9909">‘As a matter of fact, I’ve got it now’: alcohol advertising and sport</a></p>
<p><strong>Part Six:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/advertisings-role-in-how-young-people-interact-with-alcohol-9986">Advertising’s role in how young people interact with alcohol</a></p>
<p><strong>Part Eight:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-foetal-alcohol-spectrum-disorders-9871">Explainer: foetal alcohol spectrum disorders</a></p>
<p><strong>Part Nine:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/alcohol-warning-labels-and-valuable-label-real-estate-9813">‘Valuable label real estate’ and alcohol warning labels</a></p>
<p><strong>Part Ten:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/forbidden-fruit-are-children-tricked-into-wanting-alcohol-12457">Forbidden fruit: are children tricked into wanting alcohol?</a></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/9668/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Wayne Hall receives funding from the National Medical Research Council and has in the past received research funding from the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mike Daube is President of the Australian Council on Smoking and Health and Director of the McCusker Centre for Action on Alcohol and Youth.</span></em></p>In Australia, the most effective and efficient ways to reduce alcohol-related harm – increasing taxation, and restricting availability and alcohol promotion – are politically unpopular. This mismatch between…Wayne Hall, Professor & Deputy Director (Policy) UQ Centre for Clinical Research, The University of QueenslandMike Daube, Professor of Health Policy, Curtin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/99862013-02-27T00:05:50Z2013-02-27T00:05:50ZAdvertising’s role in how young people interact with alcohol<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/20586/original/dv7w4ttj-1361769060.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Efforts to reduce young people’s reliance on alcohol face a huge obstacle in the form of alcohol advertising.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lala Roe</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The most recent guidelines on appropriate alcohol consumption from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) are a hard sell to a hard-drinking public. And this is despite growing concerns about alcohol-fuelled violence in the community and a swelling evidence base demonstrating the nature and extent of alcohol-related harms, especially among young people.</p>
<p>Consider the NHMRC’s guideline on youth consumption: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>For children and young people under 18 years of age, not drinking alcohol is the safest option.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This guideline is in stark contrast to the reality of the ubiquitous use of alcohol as a rite of passage and as a tool to assist young people interact with their peers. Indeed, the all-important task of establishing one’s persona takes predominance during these years, and alcohol has become intricately involved in this process.</p>
<p>And anyway, efforts to reduce young people’s reliance on alcohol face a huge obstacle in the form of alcohol advertising. The heavy promotion of alcoholic beverages normalises their consumption in general and excessive consumption in particular. </p>
<p>Alcohol advertising occurs across numerous media platforms, and regulation is woefully inadequate. While young people are supposedly protected from television advertisements by a combination of mandatory and voluntary codes, <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1360-0443.2009.02592.x/full">studies consistently show</a> they are exposed to a large number and variety of advertisements that encourage and glorify alcohol consumption.</p>
<p><a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1465-3362.2012.00439.x/abstract">Our recent work</a> at the University of Western Australia analysed television alcohol advertisements from around the country. We found that of the 2,810 alcohol advertisements aired over a two-month period, half were shown at times classified as popular children’s viewing times. Around three-quarters of the advertisements were for beer, followed by spirits, wine, then pre-mixed drinks. </p>
<p>The themes of the advertisements were especially attractive to children, and this is something that has been <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/pa.340/abstract">found in previous research</a>. The themes included humour, friendship or mateship, animals and sport. Of particular concern was the heavy emphasis on value for money and the benefits of buying alcoholic products in bulk. </p>
<p>Young people tend to have limited financial resources so highlighting the affordability of alcoholic beverages increases their attractiveness. What’s more, encouraging the purchase of multiple units in a single purchase is highly problematic among a group that’s likely to avoid taking leftovers home to be spotted by parents. So when more alcohol is purchased, more is consumed during that drinking occasion. </p>
<p>Overall, <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1465-3362.2012.00439.x/abstract">the study concluded</a> that current regulations are failing to protect children from alcohol advertising and need urgent revision. This becomes even more evident when the lack of coverage of sponsorship arrangements and the internet environment in existing regulations is taken into consideration.</p>
<p>Another concern is music video clips aired in general viewing times that frequently depict alcohol consumption. It’s little wonder that alcohol continues to be venerated by younger and older Australians alike.</p>
<p>So what counter-messages are out there for young people? They may see industry-generated messages advising people to “drink responsibly”. While ostensibly representing efforts to reduce youth drinking, a more cynical interpretation is that such messages actually constitute an instruction to drink. </p>
<p>Many schools are actively addressing the problem by introducing drug awareness programs into the curriculum, but these can’t be expected to neutralise the numerous pro-drinking messages young people encounter in daily life.</p>
<p>A critical first step for addressing youth drinking is to limit the extent to which young people are exposed to advertising that extols the virtues of alcohol consumption. The failure of existing advertising regulations indicates the need for a more comprehensive and restrictive approach. </p>
<p>A promising initiative is the new <a href="http://www.alcoholadreview.com.au/">Alcohol Advertising Review Board Code</a>, which has been implemented by health groups as an alternative to the patently ineffective industry-led <a href="http://www.abac.org.au/publications/thecode/">Alcohol Beverages Advertising Code</a> (ABAC). A world first, this community initiative covers alcohol advertising in all media, and complaints can be lodged <a href="http://www.alcoholadreview.com.au">here</a>.</p>
<p>Given the amount of alcohol-related harm being experienced by young people in Australia, there is serious cause for concern. It is time to re-think current regulatory protections that are not adequately preventing children from extensive exposure to alcohol advertising.</p>
<p><em>This is the sixth part of our series looking at alcohol and the drinking culture in Australia. Click on the links below to read the other articles:</em></p>
<p><strong>Part One:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-brief-history-of-alcohol-consumption-in-australia-10580">A brief history of alcohol consumption in Australia</a></p>
<p><strong>Part Two:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/social-acceptance-of-alcohol-allows-us-to-ignore-its-harms-10045">Social acceptance of alcohol allows us to ignore its harms</a></p>
<p><strong>Part Three:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/my-drinking-your-problem-alcohol-hurts-non-drinkers-too-12424">My drinking, your problem: alcohol hurts non-drinkers too</a></p>
<p><strong>Part Four:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/alcohol-fuelled-violence-on-the-rise-despite-falling-consumption-9892">Alcohol-fuelled violence on the rise despite falling consumption</a></p>
<p><strong>Part Five:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/as-a-matter-of-fact-ive-got-it-now-alcohol-advertising-and-sport-9909">‘As a matter of fact, I’ve got it now’: alcohol advertising and sport</a></p>
<p><strong>Part Seven:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/big-alcohol-and-big-tobacco-boozem-buddies-9668">Big Alcohol and Big Tobacco – boozem buddies?</a></p>
<p><strong>Part Eight:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-foetal-alcohol-spectrum-disorders-9871">Explainer: foetal alcohol spectrum disorders</a></p>
<p><strong>Part Nine:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/alcohol-warning-labels-and-valuable-label-real-estate-9813">‘Valuable label real estate’ and alcohol warning labels</a></p>
<p><strong>Part Ten:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/forbidden-fruit-are-children-tricked-into-wanting-alcohol-12457">Forbidden fruit: are children tricked into wanting alcohol?</a></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/9986/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Simone Pettigrew receives funding from Australian Research Council, Healthway WA, Cancer Council.</span></em></p>The most recent guidelines on appropriate alcohol consumption from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) are a hard sell to a hard-drinking public. And this is despite growing concerns…Simone Pettigrew, Professor of Marketing and Director of the Health Promotion Evaluation Unit, The University of Western AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/99092013-02-26T19:30:41Z2013-02-26T19:30:41Z‘As a matter of fact, I’ve got it now’: alcohol advertising and sport<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/20654/original/mqjsq4rs-1361857422.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Alcohol, tobacco, and fast-food industry sponsorship of sport sends the wrong message to the population.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dean Lewins/AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Sport is generally a healthy activity that transmits important societal values, such as fairness, perseverance, and teamwork. Unfortunately, it’s also the primary vehicle for marketing alcohol to the general population. </p>
<p>At its best, sport can provide participants and fans with a sense of identity, pride and self-esteem. But a visitor to Australian shores would be forgiven for thinking that sport is a subsidiary of the alcohol, fast food and gambling industries. </p>
<p>Indeed, <a href="http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2009/08/20090831/This-Weeks-News/A-B-Shifts-Approach-To-Sports-Ties.aspx">the majority</a> of alcohol advertising and sponsorship both in terms of frequency and time of advertising, and in alcohol marketing expenditure, occurs in and around sport. In 2009, two of the world’s largest alcohol producers, Anheuser-Busch InBev and SABMiller, spent approximately $350 million and $212 million, respectively, on television advertising during US sporting events alone. We are unable to obtain figures for Australia. </p>
<p>There are several reasons for the alcohol industry using sport for the promotion of alcohol consumption.</p>
<p>First, placement of alcohol sponsorship and advertising in large televised sporting events allows the alcohol industry to bypass regulations prohibiting alcohol advertising during times when large proportions of children may be watching television. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/OwqzMzbTxcY?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>Victoria Bitter’s sponsorship of Australian cricket, for instance, means that children are exposed to alcohol advertising from ten in the morning to the end of play. And it’s difficult to miss the alcohol brands on signage and boarding around Australian sport stadiums. Or, the VB signs either side of the electronic score board each time a third umpire decision is needed.</p>
<p>Another feature that attracts the alcohol industry is sport’s ability to evoke strong emotion and social identification. Products presented within these sporting contexts are more likely to be remembered, liked and chosen.</p>
<p>Pairing a healthy activity, such as sport, with an otherwise unhealthy product, such as alcohol or fast food, makes that product seem less unhealthy and more acceptable and normal. Many of us will remember tobacco advertising in sport but I suspect that even smokers wouldn’t welcome that back.</p>
<p>Simply put, alcohol advertising and sponsorship in sport works in terms of increasing sales, and of course, alcohol consumption. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/20649/original/c669hkpx-1361856806.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/20649/original/c669hkpx-1361856806.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=906&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/20649/original/c669hkpx-1361856806.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=906&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/20649/original/c669hkpx-1361856806.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=906&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/20649/original/c669hkpx-1361856806.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1138&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/20649/original/c669hkpx-1361856806.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1138&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/20649/original/c669hkpx-1361856806.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1138&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Para Olympians Justin Eveson and Brad Ness at a Bundaberg Rum event in Perth ahead of the 2004 Athens Olympics.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Tony McDonough/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="http://alcalc.oxfordjournals.org/content/44/3/229.abstract%20">Reviews of research</a> on the association between exposure to alcohol advertising and subsequent drinking intentions and behaviours shows that exposure to, and/or recall of, alcohol advertising and sponsorship by children and adolescents predicts their future drinking expectancies, norms, drinking intentions, and hazardous drinking behaviours. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16530613">A study</a> from the United States also found that ownership of alcohol-branded merchandise by children and adolescents (such as football shirts and sport caps) was associated with their early initiation of drinking. Similarly, alcohol industry sponsorship of sportspeople has been <a href="http://alcalc.oxfordjournals.org/content/46/2/210.full.pdf">found to be associated</a> with more <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1360-0443.2008.02371.x/full">hazardous drinking levels</a> among Australian, New Zealand and UK sportspeople. </p>
<p>Beyond these outcomes, alcohol industry advertising and sponsorship in sport and other settings, creates a culture where children perceive alcohol consumption as a normal everyday part of life. And they see it as something associated with sporting success or indeed, being Australian. </p>
<p>Given the known relationship between alcohol advertising and youth drinking, researchers who assess drinking norms, peer influence and parental influence as predictors of young people’s drinking, are in effect measuring people’s exposure to alcohol advertising and sponsorship. </p>
<p>Most of us didn’t grow up in a culture void of alcohol advertising and sponsorship, which makes it difficult for us to imagine sport without them. But given the high rates of hazardous drinking and associated problems in young people (violence, suicide, motor accidents), we probably don’t need to be giving them more encouragement to drink. The same was true for tobacco advertising and sponsorship in sport and few would now question the wisdom of banning such promotion. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/20659/original/dpwggnrc-1361858012.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/20659/original/dpwggnrc-1361858012.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/20659/original/dpwggnrc-1361858012.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/20659/original/dpwggnrc-1361858012.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/20659/original/dpwggnrc-1361858012.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/20659/original/dpwggnrc-1361858012.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/20659/original/dpwggnrc-1361858012.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">New South Wales coach Ricky Stuart (centre) speaks to his team after their defeat by Brisbane at the State of Origin 3 in July 2012.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dave Hunt/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The alcohol industry’s <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1080/09595230601037026/full">self-regulation of advertising</a> has been shown to not work, and stronger regulation is clearly needed. Effective action is possible.</p>
<p>France has had a complete ban on alcohol advertising and sponsorship since 1991. Sport has not suffered and alcohol consumption has decreased in the past 20-odd years. Indeed, France even hosted the 1998 FIFA World Cup with this ban in place and enforced. </p>
<p>Similarly, Norway and Turkey have strong restrictions on alcohol advertising in sport, and South Africa is currently drafting a bill to ban all alcohol advertising and sponsorship in sport. It would be simple to do the same in Australia. </p>
<p>Naturally, “big sport” (<a href="http://www.afl.com.au/">AFL</a>, <a href="http://www.nrl.com/">NRL</a> and <a href="http://www.cricket.com.au/">cricket</a>) and the alcohol industry will object to the removal of alcohol advertising and sponsorship, citing that grassroots sport will suffer. But the experience of nations where bans have been imposed suggests otherwise, such as Norway and France.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://anpha.gov.au/internet/anpha/publishing.nsf">Australian National Preventative Health Agency</a> has successfully negotiated the removal of alcohol sponsorship from most of Australia’s major sporting codes (<a href="http://www.footballaustralia.com.au/">Football Federation of Australia</a>, <a href="http://www.netball.asn.au/">Netball Australia</a>, <a href="http://www.swimming.org.au/">Swimming Australia</a>, <a href="http://www.basketball.net.au/">Basketball Australia</a>, <a href="http://www.cycling.org.au/">Cycling Australia</a>, <a href="http://www.hockey.org.au/">Hockey Australia</a>). But <a href="http://www.afl.com.au/">AFL</a>, <a href="http://www.nrl.com/">rugby league</a> and <a href="http://www.rugby.com.au/">union</a> and <a href="http://www.cricket.com.au/">cricket</a> are resisting change. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/20653/original/8xs6tbkq-1361857289.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/20653/original/8xs6tbkq-1361857289.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/20653/original/8xs6tbkq-1361857289.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/20653/original/8xs6tbkq-1361857289.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/20653/original/8xs6tbkq-1361857289.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/20653/original/8xs6tbkq-1361857289.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/20653/original/8xs6tbkq-1361857289.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Danny Beasley rides Fashionsafield home to victory at the 2005 Tooheys New Easter Carnival at Sydney’s Randwick racecourse in 2005.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sam Mooy/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Sport in Australia could still be funded by the alcohol, tobacco, and fast-food industries, but through the ring-fencing of a small portion of the tax gathered from their sales. This would allow sport to thrive without the downside of also promoting unhealthy products to our children. </p>
<p><em>This is the fifth part of our series looking at alcohol and the drinking culture in Australia. Click on the links below to read the other articles:</em></p>
<p><strong>Part One:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-brief-history-of-alcohol-consumption-in-australia-10580">A brief history of alcohol consumption in Australia</a></p>
<p><strong>Part Two:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/social-acceptance-of-alcohol-allows-us-to-ignore-its-harms-10045">Social acceptance of alcohol allows us to ignore its harms</a></p>
<p><strong>Part Three:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/my-drinking-your-problem-alcohol-hurts-non-drinkers-too-12424">My drinking, your problem: alcohol hurts non-drinkers too</a></p>
<p><strong>Part Four:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/alcohol-fuelled-violence-on-the-rise-despite-falling-consumption-9892">Alcohol-fuelled violence on the rise despite falling consumption</a></p>
<p><strong>Part Six:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/advertisings-role-in-how-young-people-interact-with-alcohol-9986">Advertising’s role in how young people interact with alcohol</a></p>
<p><strong>Part Seven:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/big-alcohol-and-big-tobacco-boozem-buddies-9668">Big Alcohol and Big Tobacco – boozem buddies?</a></p>
<p><strong>Part Eight:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-foetal-alcohol-spectrum-disorders-9871">Explainer: foetal alcohol spectrum disorders</a></p>
<p><strong>Part Nine:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/alcohol-warning-labels-and-valuable-label-real-estate-9813">‘Valuable label real estate’ and alcohol warning labels</a></p>
<p><strong>Part Ten:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/forbidden-fruit-are-children-tricked-into-wanting-alcohol-12457">Forbidden fruit: are children tricked into wanting alcohol?</a></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/9909/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kerry O'Brien receives funding from the ARC, ANPHA, and VicHealth. He also has a honorary position with the University of Manchester in the UK.</span></em></p>Sport is generally a healthy activity that transmits important societal values, such as fairness, perseverance, and teamwork. Unfortunately, it’s also the primary vehicle for marketing alcohol to the general…Kerry O'Brien, Head of Behavioural Studies, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/124662013-02-26T06:02:49Z2013-02-26T06:02:49ZFact check: only drugs and alcohol together cause violence<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/20657/original/r2mnp2yn-1361857732.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Australian studies show alcohol is considerably more likely than other drugs to be involved in violence.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Aviva West</span></span></figcaption></figure><blockquote>
<p>On <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/stories/2013/02/25/3695353.htm">ABC TV’s Four Corners</a> program last night, Paul Nicolaou, chief executive officer of <a href="http://www.ahansw.com.au/">Australia Hotels Association New South Wales</a>, dismissed claims that alcohol is fuelling late-night violence, arguing instead that it’s a mixture of drugs and alcohol that’s causing the problem.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The argument that illicit drugs rather than alcohol consumption are the key contributors to night-time violence is commonly made. There is research evidence against this claim at several levels. </p>
<p>When expert pharmacologists are asked to compare the inherent dangerousness of drugs, alcohol ranks very high. In <a href="http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2810%2961462-6/fulltext#article_upsell">one study</a> published in The Lancet in 2010, the consensus was that alcohol was the most dangerous of drugs. This was partly due to the amount of harm experienced by those other than the drinker (the rankings are reproduced <a href="http://thomaskleppesto.tumblr.com/post/26149335063/the-relative-dangers-of-drugs-what-the-science-says">here</a>). </p>
<p>Concerning violence in particular, a <a href="http://www.ukcia.org/research/AgressiveBehavior.pdf">review</a> of the role of different drugs in inducing violence noted that alcohol was “by far the drug most likely to be associated with heightened likelihood of interpersonal violence”.</p>
<p>Summarising the relationships found in population studies, a <a href="http://www.who.int/violenceprevention/publications/policy_briefing_alcohol_and_interpersonal_violence.pdf">World Health Organization report</a> concludes that “studies increasingly highlight the role of alcohol consumption in people becoming victims of violence and perpetrators of violence”. </p>
<p>In Australian studies, alcohol is considerably more likely than other drugs to be involved in violence. </p>
<p>First of all, alcohol intoxication is simply more common than illicit drug use. <a href="http://www.ndlerf.gov.au/pub/Monograph_43.pdf">A recent large-scale study</a> interviewed nearly 4,000 people visiting licensed venues in Geelong and Newcastle. This study found that 7% reported any illicit drug use (most commonly cannabis), while two-thirds reported drinking alcohol even before arriving at a licensed venue.</p>
<p>More importantly, specific studies of violence and injury typically find alcohol involvement more than twice as often as drug involvement. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.aic.gov.au/documents/4/5/3/%7B453F4590-AB2B-4AD6-943F-91662DC88168%7Dtandi439.pdf">Data</a> from the <a href="http://www.aic.gov.au/about_aic/research_programs/nmp/duma.html">Drug Use Monitoring in Australia</a> program shows that alcohol is responsible for around three times as much violent offending as all illicit drugs combined (33.6% vs 12.4%). </p>
<p>Similarly, the <a href="http://www.aic.gov.au/media_library/publications/mr/21/mr21.pdf">National Homicide Monitoring Program</a> shows high levels of alcohol involvement in violent deaths. Homicide offenders were over twice as likely to have been drinking prior to their offence than to have been using drugs. </p>
<p>These findings are further supported by surveys of crime victims. In the <a href="http://www.aihw.gov.au/publication-detail/?id=32212254712">National Drug Strategy Household Survey</a>, 8.1% of Australian adults reported being the victim of an alcohol-related assault. The corresponding figure for illicit drugs was just 2.2%. </p>
<p>And unpublished data from the <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/4906.0">Personal Safety Survey</a> found that 85% of assaults attributed to substance use were alcohol-related (with the other 15% linked to illicits). </p>
<p>Alcohol plays the leading role in violence among drugs in Australia both because of its pharmacological properties and because it is so available and commonly used. Attempts to get alcohol off the hook by pointing elsewhere are not supported by the science. </p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/12466/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael Livingston supported by the National Health and Medical Research Council Early Career Fellowship. He also receives funding from the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education (FARE), an independent, charitable organisation working to prevent the harmful use of alcohol in Australia (<a href="http://www.fare.org.au">www.fare.org.au</a>). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robin Room does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>On ABC TV’s Four Corners program last night, Paul Nicolaou, chief executive officer of Australia Hotels Association New South Wales, dismissed claims that alcohol is fuelling late-night violence, arguing…Robin Room, Director, Centre for Alcohol Policy Research, Turning Point Alcohol & Drug Centre; Professor of Population Health & Chair of Social Research in Alcohol, The University of MelbourneMichael Livingston, Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at The University of New South Wales, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/98922013-02-26T00:11:30Z2013-02-26T00:11:30ZAlcohol-fuelled violence on the rise despite falling consumption<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/20608/original/6fc9px54-1361837398.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Alcohol-related violence is rising while per capita consumption is falling.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kirti Poddar</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Generally speaking, if a population drinks more, then there are more heavy drinkers and more harm from alcohol (similarly if a population drinks less, there will be less harm). But this link now appears to be unravelling.</p>
<p>One of the core assumptions of public health-focused alcohol research has been the overarching link between levels of alcohol consumption in a population and rates of harm. This has been <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15705462">demonstrated repeatedly,</a> across a range of settings – when per-capita alcohol consumption goes up, rates of alcohol problems (mortality, morbidity and violence, for instance) go up with them. </p>
<p>Recently, these trends have begun to uncouple in a number of places. <a href="http://www.nordicwelfare.org/PageFiles/4910/409_424_Ramsted.pdf">In Sweden</a>, per-capita consumption of alcohol has fallen in the last five years; while harm rates have remained fairly stable. <a href="http://nvcmail.org/PageFiles/4910/383_408_Meier.pdf">In England</a>, harm rates have increased sharply since 2004 despite a steady decline in per-capita consumption levels. And a similar pattern is emerging in Australia.</p>
<p>Over the last decade or so, <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/mf/4307.0.55.001/">data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics</a> have shown almost no change in the amount of alcohol consumed per person in Australia. In 2000/01, it was 10.15 litres of pure alcohol, while in 2010/11 (the most recent year for which data are available), it was 9.99 litres. In contrast, rates of alcohol-related harm are increasing. </p>
<p>Recent studies in Victoria of both <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1753-6405.2010.00568.x/abstract">adults</a> and <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1753-6405.2008.00227.x/full">young people</a> have found sharp increases in a range of problems from alcohol. This includes rates of alcohol-related hospitalisations, presentations at emergency departments due to intoxication, late-night assaults, domestic violence involving alcohol and alcohol treatment. </p>
<p>And a <a href="http://ndri.curtin.edu.au/local/docs/pdf/naip/naip012.pdf">national study</a> of alcohol-related harm between 1995 and 2006 found increases in alcohol-related hospitalisations in all states.</p>
<p>But what can explain these diverging trends? First, there’s the possibility that our data systems or coding practices have changed. While most measures of harm have increased in recent years, rates of alcohol-related mortality (the most reliably recorded) have not. So we could be seeing a coordinated shift in how hospital workers, paramedics and police treat alcohol data. This requires a shift in practice across multiple systems (and multiple states). </p>
<p>While possible, this seems unlikely to explain the full extent of the observed trends. And if we assume the available data reflect real underlying changes, then something more interesting is going on. </p>
<p>Australian alcohol consumption patterns may actually be fragmenting. Consider this simple example: a large number of light or moderate drinkers may have slightly reduced their alcohol consumption, while a smaller group of heavy drinkers increased theirs. This would lead to relatively steady per-capita consumption, but the potential for increases in alcohol-related harms (mostly experienced by the heavier drinkers). A <a href="http://alcalc.oxfordjournals.org/content/47/5/581.short">recent study of Swedish youth</a> finds some evidence of this kind of polarisation.</p>
<p>Where does this then leave alcohol policy? Public-health oriented alcohol policy has focused on shifting population consumption, through measures such as taxation or physical availability. But maybe the important question is not what effect taxation or earlier closing hours have on consumption levels, but rather what effect they have directly on rates of harm. </p>
<p>In Victoria, several <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1530-0277.2008.00669.x/abstract">recent</a> <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1360-0443.2010.03333.x/abstract">analyses</a> <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1465-3362.2010.00251.x/abstract">suggest</a> that the vast increase in the number of places to buy alcohol has had little impact on overall consumption. But it has directly influenced rates of alcohol-related problems. </p>
<p>Perhaps changes to population level alcohol availability particularly impact risky or marginalised drinkers, those likely to experience harm from their drinking. Studies also show heavy drinkers respond to price changes and that increasing alcohol taxes reduces <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S030646031200086X">death</a> and <a href="onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1360-0443.2009.02517.x/abstract">injury</a>.</p>
<p>So it may be that population-level policy solutions still make the most sense, even as population-level consumption and harm rates drift apart. There are still a lot of questions we need research to address: whose drinking is shifting and why? Are particular policy changes likely to improve or exacerbate the recent harm increases? Are there particular demographic or sub-cultural groups of the population that research and policy should be targeting? </p>
<p>Whatever the case, recent increases in alcohol-related harm are of grave concern and it’s critical that we reverse this trend.</p>
<p><em>This is the fourth part of our series looking at alcohol and the drinking culture in Australia. Click on the links below to read the other articles:</em></p>
<p><strong>Part One:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-brief-history-of-alcohol-consumption-in-australia-10580">A brief history of alcohol consumption in Australia</a></p>
<p><strong>Part Two:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/social-acceptance-of-alcohol-allows-us-to-ignore-its-harms-10045">Social acceptance of alcohol allows us to ignore its harms</a></p>
<p><strong>Part Three:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/my-drinking-your-problem-alcohol-hurts-non-drinkers-too-12424">My drinking, your problem: alcohol hurts non-drinkers too</a></p>
<p><strong>Part Five:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/as-a-matter-of-fact-ive-got-it-now-alcohol-advertising-and-sport-9909">‘As a matter of fact, I’ve got it now’: alcohol advertising and sport</a></p>
<p><strong>Part Six:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/advertisings-role-in-how-young-people-interact-with-alcohol-9986">Advertising’s role in how young people interact with alcohol</a></p>
<p><strong>Part Seven:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/big-alcohol-and-big-tobacco-boozem-buddies-9668">Big Alcohol and Big Tobacco – boozem buddies?</a></p>
<p><strong>Part Eight:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-foetal-alcohol-spectrum-disorders-9871">Explainer: foetal alcohol spectrum disorders</a></p>
<p><strong>Part Nine:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/alcohol-warning-labels-and-valuable-label-real-estate-9813">‘Valuable label real estate’ and alcohol warning labels</a></p>
<p><strong>Part Ten:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/forbidden-fruit-are-children-tricked-into-wanting-alcohol-12457">Forbidden fruit: are children tricked into wanting alcohol?</a></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/9892/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael Livingston receives funding from the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education (FARE), an independent, charitable organisation working to prevent the harmful use of alcohol in Australia (<a href="http://www.fare.org.au">www.fare.org.au</a>). Michael is also supported by the National Health and Medical Research Council (via project grant #566629).</span></em></p>Generally speaking, if a population drinks more, then there are more heavy drinkers and more harm from alcohol (similarly if a population drinks less, there will be less harm). But this link now appears…Michael Livingston, Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at The University of New South Wales, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/124242013-02-25T19:41:18Z2013-02-25T19:41:18ZMy drinking, your problem: alcohol hurts non-drinkers too<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/20592/original/ph77znbj-1361771052.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">In decisions about alcohol policy, the effects on others, and not just on the drinker, need to be taken into account.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Gaby Av</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Drinking a lot of alcohol is bad for the drinker’s health, both in the short and in the long run. But drinking often affects others adversely, too. This is well recognised for drink driving, and once the size of the problem was established, policies were put in place that successfully drove down rates of drink-driving deaths and injuries.</p>
<p>But there are a range of harms to others from drinking. These include effects on family life and members – sometimes just a bad moment, sometimes very serious. The drinker may spoil a family holiday, or may fail to pick up a child from preschool. Drinking is often implicated in family violence and in child neglect. </p>
<p>There are effects on friends and on work life – friendships broken off, injuries in a drunken fight, work time spent filling in for a drinker or getting help for him or her. And there are adverse effects on people who don’t know the drinker – annoyances like late-night street noise, and more serious impacts, such as injury from trying to break up a drunken fight, or the cost of fixing or replacing broken furniture or torn clothing when someone had a bit too much.</p>
<p>These kinds of effects are immediately recognised when they’re mentioned. But they mostly haven’t been quantified – we don’t have the kind of routine statistics even for serious events that we have for drink-driving. And usually, a social problem needs to be quantified to focus our attention on it.</p>
<p>In 2010, we <a href="http://www.fare.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/The-Range-and-Magnitude-of-Alcohols-Harm-to-Others.pdf">published a report</a> doing just this for problems from others’ drinking – laying out how many different types of problems there are, and quantifying them. We looked at how common the problems are, and the costs to people other than the drinker. </p>
<p>Commissioned by the <a href="http://www.fare.org.au/">Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education</a>, the report looked at the problems through two windows. One window is the case records of the agencies that are the front line of response to problems in our society – the police, the ambulances, the hospitals, the child protection services. This window shows us the more serious problems, the ones that come to official attention. </p>
<p>The other window is what people in the population at large tell an interviewer in a survey about problems they’ve had in the recent past with others’ drinking.</p>
<p>What we found is that, from both perspectives, the problem is large – that there are many serious cases and events, and that the experience of problems from others’ drinking is widespread in the population at large. </p>
<p>At the most serious end, we found that in a given year, 367 Australians die because of another’s drinking, and 13,660 are hospitalised. An estimated 19,443 substantiated child protection cases involve a carer’s drinking and 24,581 assaults on family members reported to the police involve drinking, as do 44,852 assaults on the street and elsewhere.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/20590/original/vqj6fckf-1361769991.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/20590/original/vqj6fckf-1361769991.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/20590/original/vqj6fckf-1361769991.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/20590/original/vqj6fckf-1361769991.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/20590/original/vqj6fckf-1361769991.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/20590/original/vqj6fckf-1361769991.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/20590/original/vqj6fckf-1361769991.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Alcohol doesn’t just put the drinker’s health at stake.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mario Antonio Pena Zapatería</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In terms of the broader picture, most of us – 73% of adults - have experienced some kind of adverse effect in the last year from someone else’s drinking. Of these, 5% were negatively affected in our work by a co-worker’s drinking, 16% by a relative’s or household member’s drinking, 11% by a friend’s and 43% when a stranger’s drinking resulted in abuse, threat, property damage or worse. </p>
<p>But though adverse effects of strangers’ drinking were more widely reported, the adverse effects in the household and family were more likely to be substantial, whether measured in terms of seriousness or of out-of-pocket costs and lost time from work.</p>
<p>Our report attracted a lot of interest internationally. Quoting it, the <a href="http://www.who.int/en/">World Health Organization</a> decided to measure alcohol’s harm to others as a major strand in its <a href="http://www.who.int/substance_abuse/msbalcstragegy.pdf">Global Strategy the Reduce Harmful Alcohol Consumption</a>. Over a dozen countries, from every inhabited continent, are now conducting studies using the approaches in our report. </p>
<p>And we have continued to do research on the issue, including a forthcoming study of patterns over time – what determines who is repeatedly adversely affected by others’ drinking over a period of years.</p>
<p>But what should we do with this knowledge of substantial adverse harms from others’ drinking? One option is to deny or discount it – maybe they didn’t measure it right. The alcohol industry’s reaction was to pay some economics consultants to do a throw-everything-at-it critique of our report. But we could and did <a href="http://www.fare.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Response-to-Access-Economics-Critique-of-the-report.pdf">answer the criticisms</a> in detail.</p>
<p>Or, we should find those responsible and punish or treat the problems away – maybe if we can get all the alcoholics into treatment or gaol, the problem will go away. Alcohol-related violence has nothing to do with nightclubs or liquor barns pushing booze, it’s argued, it’s just a problem of the “bad-apple” drinker. But, as police leaders have have repeatedly pointed out, we can’t arrest our way out of these problems.</p>
<p>The alternative is to decide that we need to do what was done with drink-driving – take the problem seriously, and take measures that actually have an effect. Australia has been doing this with second-hand smoking, even though the proportion of the problems borne by others around the user is much smaller for tobacco than it is for alcohol.</p>
<p>Taking the problem seriously has to include rethinking policies of a free market in alcohol, with slabs or casks available around the clock and clubs and pubs open until five in the morning. It will require addressing the constant alcohol ads playing to our children while they watch sports on television. If we find that there are too many costs and sorrows, we need to start a serious policy discussion about how to reduce these harms.</p>
<p>Maybe if it were just the drinker’s health at stake, you could argue that he or she should be left alone to drink to oblivion. But the stakes are higher and the impact broader than that. In decisions about alcohol policy, the effects on others, and not just on the drinker, need to be taken into account.</p>
<p><em>This is the third part of our series looking at alcohol and the drinking culture in Australia. Click on the links below to read the other articles:</em></p>
<p><strong>Part One:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-brief-history-of-alcohol-consumption-in-australia-10580">A brief history of alcohol consumption in Australia</a></p>
<p><strong>Part Two:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/social-acceptance-of-alcohol-allows-us-to-ignore-its-harms-10045">Social acceptance of alcohol allows us to ignore its harms</a></p>
<p><strong>Part Four:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/alcohol-fuelled-violence-on-the-rise-despite-falling-consumption-9892">Alcohol-fuelled violence on the rise despite falling consumption</a></p>
<p><strong>Part Five:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/as-a-matter-of-fact-ive-got-it-now-alcohol-advertising-and-sport-9909">‘As a matter of fact, I’ve got it now’: alcohol advertising and sport</a></p>
<p><strong>Part Six:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/advertisings-role-in-how-young-people-interact-with-alcohol-9986">Advertising’s role in how young people interact with alcohol</a></p>
<p><strong>Part Seven:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/big-alcohol-and-big-tobacco-boozem-buddies-9668">Big Alcohol and Big Tobacco – boozem buddies?</a></p>
<p><strong>Part Eight:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-foetal-alcohol-spectrum-disorders-9871">Explainer: foetal alcohol spectrum disorders</a></p>
<p><strong>Part Nine:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/alcohol-warning-labels-and-valuable-label-real-estate-9813">‘Valuable label real estate’ and alcohol warning labels</a></p>
<p><strong>Part Ten:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/forbidden-fruit-are-children-tricked-into-wanting-alcohol-12457">Forbidden fruit: are children tricked into wanting alcohol?</a></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/12424/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robin Room receives funding from the Victoria Department of Health, the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education, the Australian Research Council and the World Health Organization.</span></em></p>Drinking a lot of alcohol is bad for the drinker’s health, both in the short and in the long run. But drinking often affects others adversely, too. This is well recognised for drink driving, and once the…Robin Room, Director, Centre for Alcohol Policy Research, Turning Point Alcohol & Drug Centre; Professor of Population Health & Chair of Social Research in Alcohol, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/100452013-02-25T00:09:42Z2013-02-25T00:09:42ZSocial acceptance of alcohol allows us to ignore its harms<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/20542/original/8c8ptpts-1361511157.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The increasing liberalisation of alcohol normalises drinking and consumption becomes enmeshed in the daily fabric of life.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Image from shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Most of us forget that alcohol is a drug so when asked to name drug-related problems, we tend to think of illegal drugs such as cannabis or heroin. But <a href="http:/%20/www.nhmrc.gov.au/your-health/alcohol-guidelines/alcohol-and-health-australia">most of us drink</a>, and drinking is an accompaniment to a growing array of activities. </p>
<p>People enjoy alcohol for a <a href="http://www.jsad.com/jsad/article/Typologies_of_the_Cultural_Position_of_Drinking/775.html">number of reasons</a>, such as its symbolic meaning (celebration, commiseration, the end of the working day), its taste, the sense of identity and belonging we experience from drinking with our friends, as well as its physical effects – although we may not necessarily want to think we use it as an intoxicant. </p>
<p>When the fact that alcohol causes harm <em>is</em> acknowledged, language conveniently distances us from asking whether our own drinking is worth thinking about. Terms such as “alcohol abuse” or “alcohol misuse” reinforce the idea that risky drinking and related harm are something that happens to others – to a small minority of different people. </p>
<p>And if drinking is the social norm, those who have problems must surely be unusual. This dissuades many from perceiving and taking action to reduce alcohol-related risk. It also allows us to demand that government responses target a small group of “alcohol abusers” and leave the rest of us to enjoy drinking.</p>
<p>While quite a lot of people who drink alcohol experience some adverse consequences, <a href="http://www.aihw.gov.au/publication-detail/?id=32212254712">at least on occasion</a>, not many register this as reason enough to think about their drinking habit.</p>
<p>There has been a lot of media commentary about the “binge drinking culture” of young Australians and a common demand is that we educate people out of this risk. But various models and theories about <a href="http://www.jsad.com/jsad/article/Typologies_of_the_Cultural_Position_of_Drinking/775.html">drinking cultures</a>, <a href="http://books.google.com.au/books?hl=en&lr=&id=WsHxyj710UgC&oi=fnd&pg=PR5&dq=health+belief+model+theory&ots=EVRXS6HpVK&sig=eJAiLQKO51GjdZaX2xcd1PoI91Y#v=onepage&q=health%20belief%20model%20theory&f=false">health beliefs and behavioural change</a> suggest this alone might not do the job. The increasing liberalisation of alcohol (more hours, more outlets, more places we expect to drink) normalises drinking and consumption becomes enmeshed in the daily fabric of life.</p>
<p>Young people are influenced by what they think their <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD006748.pub2/pdf">peers are doing</a> (and many overestimate how much their peers are drinking) and by <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/index.cfm?fa=buy.optionToBuy&id=1989-25569-001">expectations</a> about the positive things that drinking alcohol will achieve. They tend to be less concerned about <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16806722">potential negative outcomes</a> and are not always motivated by the same issues and concerns that influence older people. </p>
<p>Even when young (and older) people accept that there are risks from drinking alcohol, self-serving optimism can counter perceived personal relevance – I might accept that risky drinking will increase the chance of an accident for other people, but not me. And anyway, if I believe that alcohol is a benign product, that everyone uses it (probably more often than me) why would I attend to messages about risk? </p>
<p>Even if I did pay attention, I might tell myself such messages must be for other people who are different, who drink more, or in a different manner. If I accept the notion that there is some risk, but find that taking action is demanding, I may make little effort to change.</p>
<p>Alcohol-related health information should be delivered in a way that generates discussion and consideration of its personal relevance, so it’s not easily dismissed as an issue for other people. But this, on it’s own, won’t be enough. We also need to respond to the way that increasing availability and promotion contribute to alcohol becoming enmeshed in day-to-day living, reminding ourselves that it may be something we enjoy but still carries risks. </p>
<p>Finally, we should review our tolerance of intoxicated behaviour. Over 40 years ago, the authors of the wonderfully titled book, <a href="http://books.google.com.au/books/about/Drunken_Comportment.html?id=3CTrAAAACAAJ&redir_esc=y">Drunken Comportment</a>, observed that alcohol intoxication is sometimes used as a passport to otherwise unacceptable behaviour. Changing our tolerance for alcohol-related anti-social and aggressive behaviour might help reduce the large numbers of Australians <a href="http://www.aihw.gov.au/publication-detail/?id=32212254712">exposed to harm</a> from other peoples’ drinking. </p>
<p>We need to discuss the availability and promotion of alcohol in our community in the context of it being a drug with potential for harm. The enjoyment of alcohol for those of us who do drink doesn’t have to come at such a high price.</p>
<p><em>This is the second part of our series looking at alcohol and the drinking culture in Australia. Click on the links below to read the other articles:</em></p>
<p><strong>Part One:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-brief-history-of-alcohol-consumption-in-australia-10580">A brief history of alcohol consumption in Australia</a></p>
<p><strong>Part Three:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/my-drinking-your-problem-alcohol-hurts-non-drinkers-too-12424">My drinking, your problem: alcohol hurts non-drinkers too</a></p>
<p><strong>Part Four:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/alcohol-fuelled-violence-on-the-rise-despite-falling-consumption-9892">Alcohol-fuelled violence on the rise despite falling consumption</a></p>
<p><strong>Part Five:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/as-a-matter-of-fact-ive-got-it-now-alcohol-advertising-and-sport-9909">‘As a matter of fact, I’ve got it now’: alcohol advertising and sport</a></p>
<p><strong>Part Six:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/advertisings-role-in-how-young-people-interact-with-alcohol-9986">Advertising’s role in how young people interact with alcohol</a></p>
<p><strong>Part Seven:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/big-alcohol-and-big-tobacco-boozem-buddies-9668">Big Alcohol and Big Tobacco – boozem buddies?</a></p>
<p><strong>Part Eight:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-foetal-alcohol-spectrum-disorders-9871">Explainer: foetal alcohol spectrum disorders</a></p>
<p><strong>Part Nine:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/alcohol-warning-labels-and-valuable-label-real-estate-9813">‘Valuable label real estate’ and alcohol warning labels</a></p>
<p><strong>Part Ten:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/forbidden-fruit-are-children-tricked-into-wanting-alcohol-12457">Forbidden fruit: are children tricked into wanting alcohol?</a></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/10045/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Steve Allsop receives funding from the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing and has received fundng from competitive funding sources such as NHMRC, ARC and Healthway (WA).</span></em></p>Most of us forget that alcohol is a drug so when asked to name drug-related problems, we tend to think of illegal drugs such as cannabis or heroin. But most of us drink, and drinking is an accompaniment…Steve Allsop, Professor and Director, National Drug Research Institute, Curtin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/105802013-02-24T19:35:03Z2013-02-24T19:35:03ZA brief history of alcohol consumption in Australia<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/20531/original/4kc7wnp4-1361505029.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Wine became popular in Australia in the 1960s, which led to the invention of the wine cask.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Flickr/Johnsyweb</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Although most Australians would probably say we’ve always been a heavy-drinking nation, the consumption of alcohol has followed a roller coaster curve since European invasion. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.health.gov.au/internet/drugstrategy/publishing.nsf/Content/alc-strategy/$FILE/alcohol_strategy_back.pdf">Alcohol consumption in Australia</a> began at an annual high point of 13.6 litres of pure alcohol per head in the 1830s. <a href="http://www.readperiodicals.com/201006/2101245641.html#b">It declined</a> to 5.8 litres a year during the economic downturn in the 1890s, then to a nadir of 2.5 litres during the Great Depression.</p>
<p>After World War II, there was a long rise in per capita consumption to <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/4307.0.55.002main+features31944-45+to+2008-09">another high point</a> of 13.1 litres in 1974-75. It then <a href="https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2010/193/10/capita-alcohol-consumption-australia-will-real-trend-please-step-forward">dropped again and rose slowly</a> to the 2008-09 levels of ten litres.</p>
<p>There’s little doubt that alcohol is an important part of Australian culture. According to the author of The Rum State, Milton Lewis, heavy drinking was an established <a href="http://www.dulwichcentre.com.au/alcohol-in-australia.html">cultural norm</a> transported to Australia at the time of colonisation. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/20526/original/x5gmb886-1361503735.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/20526/original/x5gmb886-1361503735.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/20526/original/x5gmb886-1361503735.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/20526/original/x5gmb886-1361503735.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/20526/original/x5gmb886-1361503735.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/20526/original/x5gmb886-1361503735.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/20526/original/x5gmb886-1361503735.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Annual alcohol consumption has decreased from around 13 litres per person in the mid-1970s to ten litres in the late 2000s.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Alesa Dam</span></span>
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<p>It was the norm in Britain <a href="http://www.dulwichcentre.com.au/alcohol-in-australia.html">to drink heavily</a> and gin epidemics were devastating entire communities at the time. Lewis says that alcohol in Europe had long served as a food and source of nutrition as the diets of the time were very restricted and there wasn’t a lot else to choose from. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.dulwichcentre.com.au/alcohol-in-australia.html">Two drinking practices</a> were established that still exist today. One is “shouting” in which each person in turn buys a round of drinks for the whole group; and the other, “work and bust”, is a prolonged drunken spree following a long period of hard work in the bush. This is basically an earlier term for the contemporary notion of binge drinking, and can be seen in the “<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mad_Monday">Mad Monday</a>” celebrations at the end of a football season.</p>
<p>But other factors were also at play. For a time, spirits were used in barter and convicts were part-paid in rum. In this way, rum became a currency of the colony - hence the term “a rum state”. The control of alcohol gave enormous political power. And alcohol was reportedly involved in the only military coup in Australia - the Rum rebellion in 1808.</p>
<p>Over the years, there have been many different social meanings of alcohol. In Australia and elsewhere, wine, brandy, beer and stout have been seen as good dietary supplements for invalids. Alcohol was once seen as a <a href="http://www.dulwichcentre.com.au/alcohol-in-australia.html">good, healthy food</a> Lewis notes that <a href="http://www.dulwichcentre.com.au/alcohol-in-australia.html">it has been consumed as</a> a sacrament, a toast, a fortifier, a sedative, a thirst-quencher, and a symbol of sophistication.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/20535/original/wj2y4m5w-1361505809.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/20535/original/wj2y4m5w-1361505809.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/20535/original/wj2y4m5w-1361505809.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/20535/original/wj2y4m5w-1361505809.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/20535/original/wj2y4m5w-1361505809.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=527&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/20535/original/wj2y4m5w-1361505809.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=527&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/20535/original/wj2y4m5w-1361505809.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=527&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Wine is not a health drink.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Alex Ranaldi</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>Temperance organisations sprang up in the early 19th century, and became active in Australian colonies from 1830s. They initially advocated moderation and would eventually demand prohibition. They were affiliated with Christian churches, and seen as a middle-class reaction to an upsurge in lower-class drinking of spirits, which was due to more industrialised production of distilled spirits, and the fear of the working class being more dangerous when drunk.</p>
<p>The highpoint of the temperance movement came during World War I and the Depression, when consumption went down dramatically across the English-speaking world. But after World War II, there was a backlash against the anti-alcohol movement. Drinking rates began to climb again along with growing prosperity and cultural shifts such as the changing role of women, and European immigration shaped the way we drank.</p>
<p>“Civilised” drinking – drinking with food and in moderation – became the norm. Wine became a much more popular drink by the 1960s and Australia invented the wine cask. A significant change occurred in Victoria in the 1980s with the Niewenhausen report, which promoted the liberalisation of licencing in Victoria. This was taken so keenly by successive Victorian governments that, on average, two new liquor licences were granted every day from 20 years from 1986.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/20533/original/hmgvym3x-1361505266.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/20533/original/hmgvym3x-1361505266.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/20533/original/hmgvym3x-1361505266.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/20533/original/hmgvym3x-1361505266.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/20533/original/hmgvym3x-1361505266.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/20533/original/hmgvym3x-1361505266.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/20533/original/hmgvym3x-1361505266.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Binge drinking has become fashionable again.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Image from shutterstock.com</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>But as large alcohol manufacturers increased their range of products, ramped up the amount they were producing, upped the sophistication and diversification of their advertising and allied themselves with major sports and the major media outlets, civilised drinking has not remained the norm for a sizeable proportion of the population. In the last two decades, <a href="http://www.dulwichcentre.com.au/alcohol-in-australia.html">binge drinking</a> has again become fashionable.</p>
<p>And the harm these drinkers inflict on themselves and on a large proportion of the community is preventable.</p>
<p>It doesn’t have to be this way. History shows us that overall average rates of alcohol consumption in Australia can change quite dramatically over time, and that drinking practices are highly modifiable.</p>
<p><em>This is the first part of our series looking at alcohol and the drinking culture in Australia. Click on the links below to read the other articles:</em></p>
<p><strong>Part Two:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/social-acceptance-of-alcohol-allows-us-to-ignore-its-harms-10045">Social acceptance of alcohol allows us to ignore its harms</a></p>
<p><strong>Part Three:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/my-drinking-your-problem-alcohol-hurts-non-drinkers-too-12424">My drinking, your problem: alcohol hurts non-drinkers too</a></p>
<p><strong>Part Four:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/alcohol-fuelled-violence-on-the-rise-despite-falling-consumption-9892">Alcohol-fuelled violence on the rise despite falling consumption</a></p>
<p><strong>Part Five:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/as-a-matter-of-fact-ive-got-it-now-alcohol-advertising-and-sport-9909">‘As a matter of fact, I’ve got it now’: alcohol advertising and sport</a></p>
<p><strong>Part Six:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/advertisings-role-in-how-young-people-interact-with-alcohol-9986">Advertising’s role in how young people interact with alcohol</a></p>
<p><strong>Part Seven:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/big-alcohol-and-big-tobacco-boozem-buddies-9668">Big Alcohol and Big Tobacco – boozem buddies?</a></p>
<p><strong>Part Eight:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-foetal-alcohol-spectrum-disorders-9871">Explainer: foetal alcohol spectrum disorders</a></p>
<p><strong>Part Nine:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/alcohol-warning-labels-and-valuable-label-real-estate-9813">‘Valuable label real estate’ and alcohol warning labels</a></p>
<p><strong>Part Ten:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/forbidden-fruit-are-children-tricked-into-wanting-alcohol-12457">Forbidden fruit: are children tricked into wanting alcohol?</a></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/10580/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rob Moodie received funding from the Department of Health and Ageing for work on the National Preventative Health Taskforce. He is deputy chair of the ANPHA Advisory Council.</span></em></p>Although most Australians would probably say we’ve always been a heavy-drinking nation, the consumption of alcohol has followed a roller coaster curve since European invasion. Alcohol consumption in Australia…Rob Moodie, Professor of Global Health, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.