Canadians that like to partake of a little alcoholic beverage on a daily basis are on the minds and thoughts of Canadian officials concerned about the abuse of alcohol in Canada.
According to Canadian researchers at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, who are tasked with monitoring Canadians consumption of alcohol, alcohol abuse costs each Canadian an estimated $463 per year.
The report just released by the centre, The Avoidable Cost of Alcohol Abuse in Canada 2002, indicated that direct health care costs for alcohol abuse in Canada surpass those of cancer and create an additional economic burden for Canadians in access of $1 billion.
Scientists and health professionals have suggested six intervention techniques that would save upwards of 800 Canadian lives each year and more than 90,000 acute-care hospital days annually. Additionally, they point out, implementing these policies would decrease productivity losses by about $600 million, health care costs by $250 million and crime-related costs by upwards of $180 million.
The scientists and health care officials say that Canadians don’t take alcohol and its possible effects on Canadian society as a serious issue, that alcohol abuse is one of the prime factors increasing costs in the Canadian health care sector, and that it’s preventable, providing Canadians take the issues seriously.
Officials have suggested increasing taxes on alcohol; studies have shown a link between increases in the price of alcohol and a marked decrease in Canadians consuming alcohol, suggesting that a hypothetical 25 percent increase in alcohol related taxes could reduce alcohol consumption by up to 4.1 percent. Scientists also say that lowering the legal blood alcohol concentration limits to 0.05 percent from 0.08 percent to combat alcohol abuse and increasing the legal drinking age in Canada to 21 years of age could have a notable effect on alcohol related motor vehicle fatalities.
Scientists propose a zero tolerance rule for drivers under 21, programs to educate servers of alcohol to recognize intoxication and additional screening by health care officials for drivers who have a history of drinking and driving.
The Canadian Medical Association, recently, urged the Canadian government to decrease the legal blood alcohol concentration levels, suggesting that such reductions have been shown to result in fewer fatalities and could reduce alcohol related fatalities in Canada by about 185 to 555 Canadians.
Currently, provinces issue 12 to 24 hour suspensions for blood alcohol levels over 0.05 in Canada, but under the new legislation that takes effect in Ontario later this year, a driver with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.05 percent will be suspended for three days, up from twelve hours.
The problem of alcohol abuse in society is an old one that has been a part of human life for thousands of years and I would agree the only way that no damage will be done by individuals consuming alcohol is for alcohol to not be available. This is of course not feasible considering the current laws in place; people should have the right to live their lives the way they want, provided their choices aren’t damaging others.
The suggested changes are just the same old ideas implemented with a new level of monitoring, no new ideas have come forward to help alleviate this problem, but then the problem is deeper then just people drinking.
The consumption of alcohol in society has a lot of origins, from stress relief, to an escape from reality, to a never ending supply of money for suppliers and like all human inventions alcohol is relatively harmless if we control the amount we consume.
Humans are creatures of habit, we will continually come back to a familiar feeling, and this includes alcohol, even when the benefits are out weighted by the problems. It’s easy to fall into one of these human pitfalls, the hard part is realising the hole you’re in and getting yourself out of it.
If you drink daily, it’s likely you have lost control of your alcohol consumption and you should seek council from those who have been down this road. Your not alone, many humans have suffered from alcoholism and the help exists to let you escape from the alcoholic-spiral your in, you just have to realise you need help and reach out for it.
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