It's well established that increased alcohol availability leads to more drinking. With potables now available at grocery stores and farmers' markets, why is the province moving slower than pondwater on its promised alcohol policy?
To our knowledge, no one around Algoma Public Health is using the term 'algoholic.'
No one's suggesting we're all alcohol-dependent here in Algoma District.
But we do have our own unique brand of alcohol abuse.
We're big-time binge-drinkers.
One out of every five alcohol users in Algoma reports weekly binge drinking sessions, defined as five or more drinks during a single occasion.
That compares to almost one out of 10 across Ontario.
Algoma Public Health calls our binge-drinking tendency "alarming" and it's using it to urge the Ontario government to quickly enact a comprehensive, evidence-based alcohol policy.
In a resolution approved this week, the health unit points out that Ontario has been active since 2014 to "rapidly and fundamentally transform the retail sale and distribution of alcohol," but a province-wide policy addressing problems associated with increased access to potables, promised in 2015, seems a lesser priority.
"It is well established that increased alcohol availability leads to increased consumption and alcohol-related harms," say APH's Laurie Zeppa and Kristy Harper in a report to the local board of health.
"Since the December 2015 announcement of the Government of Ontario’s plan to create a province-wide alcohol policy, the government has yet to produce or communicate any comprehensive approach to address the harms of increasing access to alcohol."
"However, the government has continued to advance its alcohol modernization agenda and since 2014 has taken steps to rapidly increase the availability of alcohol in Ontario including changes made at the Liquor Control Board of Ontario, Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario, The Beer Store, farmers' markets, breweries, and winery retail stores," Zeppa and Harper say.
The Ontario Public Health Association (OPHA) agrees, pointing out that Ontarians can now buy alcohol at:
- 659 LCBO outlets
- 551 ferment-on-premises facilities
- 507 Ontario winery retail
- 447 Beer Stores
- 212 LCBO agency stores
- 206 grocery stores
- 150 on-site brewery retail stores
- 72 licensed delivery services
- 69 farmers’ markets VQA winery outlets
- 18 on-site distillery retail stores
- 15 duty-free stores
- LCBO online sales/delivery
"Alcohol plays an important role in Ontario’s economy, but the costs far exceed the revenues," OPHA says in a joint position paper with Canadian Mental Health Association, Mothers Againsrt Drunk Driving, Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario, the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse and the Toronto-based Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.
"The annual costs directly attributable to alcohol-related harms in the form of health care, law enforcement, corrections, prevention, lost productivity due to short‐ and long‐term disability and premature mortality, and other alcohol-related problems, have been conservatively estimated at $5.3 billion – well above the alcohol revenue accruing to the provincial government," the position paper states.
"Historically there has been recognition in Ontario that alcohol is not an ordinary product and that a degree of control over its production and distribution is required in order to mitigate harms. Indeed, Ontario has been a national leader in number of alcohol policy areas with many promising practices in place."
"However, recent developments suggest an ongoing erosion of alcohol controls. Based on what we know from decades of research, we can expect to see an increase in alcohol-related harms as a result," the health groups say.
Why is the province moving so slowly on its promised alcohol policy?
"I think they're busy working with cannabis," said Dr. Marlene Spruyt, APH's chief executive officer and medical officer of health. "That's more pressing with more public and federal demands on them."
"So this has just been shelved. The risk is that it will get shelved and never pulled out again. By sending a resolution you remind them and shake it up and say: 'We know you're busy doing this but don't forget you said you were also going to work on this particular harm as well," Dr. Spruyt said.
The resolution approved on Wednesday night by the local board of health calls on the Ontario government to "fulfill its
commitment (as announced in December 2015) to develop a comprehensive, province-wide policy to minimize harm and support the safe consumption of alcohol."
