Images of young crowds dancing with bottles on their chins have become a rallying point for alcohol abolitionists. But binge-drinking and underage drinking have been around since long before Covid-19 – which is why we need a more realistic approach than a ban on alcohol sales.
Ingrid Louw is CEO of aware.org, a harm reduction agency/body for the alcohol industry.
The growing national debate over the management and consumption of alcohol is a really valuable one – whether you’re a prohibitionist or a realist.
There’s no doubt that alcohol use – and abuse – has come increasingly into focus during the pandemic, primarily because of the government’s view that alcohol consumption somehow contributes to the spread of the coronavirus, whether directly or indirectly.
This has triggered a range of views – some informed by research, others driven perhaps by misconceptions and prejudice – which are put forward to motivate for or against a continued lockdown ban.
The Association for Alcohol Responsibility and Education (aware.org), the organisation I lead, sits firmly in the group that believes the abuse/harmful consumption of alcohol – not the use of alcohol – is the major challenge, and this needs to be the real focus of…