Policy

The interventions used to decrease alcohol harms must equal the scale of the problems it causes. Effective actions proven to decrease alcohol-related harms have been studied repeatedly by researchers in Canada and abroad. The World Health Organization recognizes the following as the most cost-effective strategies to reduce the harmful effects of alcohol:

  • Increasing taxes on alcoholic beverages,
  • Restrictions on the physical availability of alcohol,
  • Restrictions on alcohol advertising and marketing,
  • Enforcing drunk driving countermeasures, and
  • Implementing screening, brief interventions, referral, and treatment.

Everyone has a right to know about how much they are actually drinking, the harms that come from alcohol, and ways to reduce risk. Alcohol labelling is the key to making informed choices.

 

Learn more about the push for alcohol labelling in Canada.

Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) Video

Watch the PAHO Video

Take Action on Alcohol Policy.

Alcohol and Health supports community and public health professionals, non-profit organizations and policy makers to develop, influence or advocate for alcohol policies that support community health and safety.

 

Ontario Public Health Association Alcohol Working Group Ontario Alcohol Policy Package

World Health Organization WHO video

World Health Organization WHO Video on Cross Border Advertising.

World Health Organization: Safer Initiative- Best Buy Alcohol Policy

Canadian Alcohol Policy Evaluation (CAPE) How does Ontario Compare to the rest of Canada?

Canadian Cancer Society: Position on Alcohol Labels

Canadian Partnership Against Cancer: Alcohol Policy

World Health Organization: Less Alcohol Webinar Series

World Health Organization: Publications on Alcohol Policy

World Health Organization: Technical Manual on Alcohol Tax Policy and Administration

Public Health Agency of Canada- Alcohol Creates a Deficit

Canadian Substance Use Costs and Harms Report

1 Naimi, T., Stockwell, T., Giesbrecht, N., Wettlaufer, A., Vallance, K., Farrell-Low, A., Farkouh, E., Ma, J., Priore, B., Vishnevsky, N., Price, T., Asbridge, M., Gagnon, M., Hynes, G., Shelley, J., Sherk, A., Shield, K., Solomon, R., Thomas, G. & Thompson, K. (2023). Canadian Alcohol Policy Evaluation 3.0: Results from Ontario. Victoria, BC: Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research, University of Victoria. https://www.uvic.ca/research/centres/cisur/assets/docs/cape/cape3/on-results-en.pdf
2 World Health Organization. The SAFER technical package: five areas of intervention at national and subnational levels. Geneva:; 2019. https://www.who.int/initiatives/SAFER

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