Health News For South West


Friday, September 21, 2012
Grey Bruce Health Unit
Reducing Alcohol Related Harm: Moving Toward a Culture of Moderation in Grey Bruce

Grey Bruce received a call to action today to address the significant costs associated with drinking. Seven recommendations for community-based actions are outlined in the Grey Bruce Health Communities Partnership report Reducing Alcohol Related Harm: Moving Toward a Culture of Moderation in Grey Bruce.The report was endorsed by the Board of Health for the Grey Bruce Health Unit.

The issue is not that Grey Bruce residents drink alcohol; but rather how much, how often and the context for drinking is the issue. One in five drinkers in Grey Bruce are regular heavy drinkers. That level of drinking has considerable social, health and economic impacts on our community and the public significantly underestimates the seriousness of these consequences.

There is an urgent need for Grey Bruce to move towards the concept of drinking in moderation, which is a new way of thinking for the large majority of the population. Drinking in moderation is a way of making choices about alcohol use based on a clearer understanding of when, when not, and how much to drink; and the appropriate motivations and settings for drinking.

- Reducing Alcohol Related Harm: Moving Toward a Culture of Moderation in Grey Bruce

“In Grey Bruce, we need to reduce the burden of chronic diseases and injury caused by the over-use of alcohol,” says Dr. Hazel Lynn, Grey Bruce Medical Officer of Health. “To achieve this, everyone in our community needs to undertake a long-term commitment to recognize and reduce the overuse of alcohol. We need to build a new generation that does not view drinking alcohol as recreation and that is why it is critical to begin this process immediately.”

Healthy public policies and interventions identified in the report include:

  • Control the physical and legal availability of alcohol
  • Maintain socially responsible pricing
  • Strengthen controls on alcohol advertising and marketing
  • Modify the drinking environment
  • Continue education and harm reduction initiatives
  • Strengthen and promote early intervention and access to treatment
  • Enhance drinking-driving countermeasures

The full report Reducing Alcohol Related Harm: Moving Toward a Culture of Moderation in Grey Bruce - A Call for Action is available here.

Media Contact:

Lynda Bumstead
Manager, Chronic Disease Prevention
Grey Bruce Health Unit
519-376-9420 or 1-800-263-3456 ext. 1463
l.bumstead@publichealthgreybruce.on.ca

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