| 1. |
- Babor, Thomas F., et al.
(författare)
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Alcohol : No Ordinary Commodity - a summary of the third edition
- 2022
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Ingår i: Addiction. - : NLM (Medline). - 0965-2140 .- 1360-0443. ; 117:12, s. 3024-3036
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background and Aims: This article summarizes the findings and conclusions of the third edition of Alcohol: No Ordinary Commodity. The latest revision of this book is part of a series of monographs designed to provide a critical review of the scientific evidence related to alcohol control policy from a public health perspective.Design: A narrative summary of the contents of the book according to five major issues.Findings: An extensive amount of epidemiological evidence shows that alcohol is a major contributor to the global burden of disease, disability and death in high-, middle- and low-income countries. Trends in alcohol products and marketing are described, indicating that a large part of the global industry has been consolidated into a small number of transnational corporations that are expanding their operations in Asia, Africa and Latin America. The main part of the book is devoted to a review of strategies and interventions designed to prevent or minimize alcohol-related harm. Overall, the most effective strategies to protect public health are taxation that decreases affordability and restrictions on the physical availability of alcohol. A total ban on alcohol marketing is also an effective strategy to reduce consumption. In addition, drink-driving counter-measures, brief interventions with at-risk drinkers and treatment of drinkers with alcohol dependence are effective in preventing harm in high-risk contexts and groups of hazardous drinkers.Conclusion: Alcohol policy is often the product of competing interests, values and ideologies, with the evidence suggesting that the conflicting interests between profit and health mean that working in partnership with the alcohol industry is likely to lead to ineffective policy. Opportunities for implementation of evidence-based alcohol policies that better serve the public good are clearer than ever before as a result of accumulating knowledge on which strategies work best.
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| 2. |
- Babor, Thomas F., et al.
(författare)
-
Alcohol : No Ordinary Commodity - A Summary of the Third Edition
- 2023
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Ingår i: SUCHT. - 0939-5911 .- 1664-2856. ; 69:4, s. 147-162
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background and Aims: This article summarizes the findings and conclusions of the third edition of Alcohol: No Ordinary Commodity. The latest revision of this book is part of a series of monographs designed to provide a critical review of the scientific evidence related to alcohol control policy from a public health perspective. Design: A narrative summary of the contents of the book according to five major issues. Findings: An extensive amount of epidemiological evidence shows that alcohol is a major contributor to the global burden of disease, disability and death in high-, middle- and low-income countries. Trends in alcohol products and marketing are described, indicating that a large part of the global industry has been consolidated into a small number of transnational corporations that are expanding their operations in Asia, Africa and Latin America. The main part of the book is devoted to a review of strategies and interventions designed to prevent or minimize alcohol-related harm. Overall, the most effective strategies to protect public health are taxation that decreases affordability and restrictions on the physical availability of alcohol. A total ban on alcohol marketing is also an effective strategy to reduce consumption. In addition, drink-driving counter-measures, brief interventions with at-risk drinkers and treatment of drinkers with alcohol dependence are effective in preventing harm in high-risk contexts and groups of hazardous drinkers. Conclusion: Alcohol policy is often the product of competing interests, values and ideologies, with the evidence suggesting that the conflicting interests between profit and health mean that working in partnership with the alcohol industry is likely to lead to ineffective policy. Opportunities for implementation of evidence-based alcohol policies that better serve the public good are clearer than ever before as a result of accumulating knowledge on which strategies work best.
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| 3. |
- Rehm, Jürgen, et al.
(författare)
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Regulatory Policies for Alcohol, other Psychoactive Substances and Addictive Behaviours : The Role of Level of Use and Potency. A Systematic Review
- 2019
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Ingår i: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. - : MDPI AG. - 1661-7827 .- 1660-4601. ; 16:19
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- The object of this contribution based on a systematic review of the literature is to examine to what degree the level of use and potency play a role in regulatory policies for alcohol, other psychoactive substances and gambling, and whether there is an evidence base for this role. Level of use is usually defined around a behavioural pattern of the user (for example, cigarettes smoked per day, or average ethanol use in grams per day), while potency is defined as a property or characteristic of the substance. For all substances examined (alcohol, tobacco, opioids, cannabis) and gambling, both dimensions were taken into consideration in the formulation of most regulatory policies. However, the associations between both dimensions and regulatory policies were not systematic, and not always based on evidence. Future improvements are suggested.
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| 4. |
- Rehm, Juergen, et al.
(författare)
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The impact of alcohol taxation changes on unrecorded alcohol consumption : A review and recommendations
- 2022
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Ingår i: International journal of drug policy. - : Elsevier BV. - 0955-3959 .- 1873-4758. ; 99
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: The diverse forms of unrecorded alcohol, defined as beverage alcohol not registered in official statistics in the country where it is consumed, comprise about one fourth of all alcohol consumed worldwide. Since unrecorded alcohol is usually cheaper than registered commercial alcohol, a standard argument against raising alcohol excise taxes has been that doing so could potentially result in an increase in unrecorded consumption. This contribution examines whether increases in taxation have in fact led to increases in consumption of unrecorded alcohol, and whether these increases in unrecorded alcohol should be considered to be a barrier to raising taxes. A second aim is to outline mitigation strategies to reduce unrecorded alcohol use.Methods: Narrative review of primary and secondary research, namely case studies and narrative and systematic reviews on unrecorded alcohol use worldwide.Results: Unrecorded alcohol consumption did not automatically increase with increases in taxation and subse-quent price increases of registered commercial alcohol. Instead, the level of unrecorded consumption depended on: a) the availability and type of unrecorded alcohol; b) whether such consumption was non-stigmatized; c) the primary population groups which consumed unrecorded alcohol before the policy change; and d) the policy measures taken. Mitigation strategies are outlined.Conclusions: Potential increases in the level of unrecorded alcohol consumption should be considered in the planning and implementation of substantial increases in alcohol taxation. However, unrecorded consumption should not be considered to be a principal barrier to implementing tax interventions, as evidence does not indicate an increase in consumption if mitigation measures are put in place by governments.
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| 5. |
- Room, Robin, 1939-, et al.
(författare)
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Research agendas for alcohol policymaking in the wider world
- 2022
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Ingår i: The international journal of alcohol and drug research. - : International Journal of Alcohol and Drug Research. - 1925-7066. ; 10:1, s. 34-44
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- From comparisons of World Health Organization statistics, it is clear that people in lower-income countries experience more harms per litre of alcohol and different types of harms compared to those from higher-income countries. Yet studies in higher-income countries dominate research on policies to prevent alcohol problems. The paper reports on results of collaborative work to map priority areas for research relevant to low- and middle-income countries. Research focus areas were identified and discussed among potential coauthors from diverse fields with relevant knowledge, with agreement reached on an initial list of seven research priority areas. Areas identified include: (1) the effects of choices (e.g., national vs. local, monopoly vs. licensing system) in organising the alcohol market; (2) involvement/separation of alcohol industry interests in decisions on public health regulation; (3) options and effectiveness of global agreements on alcohol governance; (4) choices and experience in controlling unrecorded alcohol; (5) means of decreasing harm from men’s drinking to family members; (6) strategies for reducing the effects of poverty on drinking’s role in harms; and (7) measuring and addressing key alcohol-induced low-and middle-income country (LMIC) health harms: infectious diseases, injuries, digestive diseases. Paths ahead for such research are briefly outlined.
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