www.alkoholpolitik.ch

Sweden’s state-run alcohol retail monopoly Systembolaget has demanded an extra tax on box wine equating a price hike of up to 25-30 percent in order to curb the thirst for bag-in-box wines.
A wine box typically contains the equivalent of four bottles of wine, but typically costs as much as three – a discount that the Systembolaget wants to see removed.
„We want to look over the possibilities for adapting alcohol taxes so that the quantity discount on box wine declines,“ said Systembolaget’s press spokesperson Lennart Agén to the TT news agency. The idea was described as „interesting“ by a spokesperson for public health minister Maria Larsson. Agén observed that a boxed wine is 15-30 percent cheaper than the equivalent quantity in bottles. … (Source: Alcohol Reports, 05/30/11) thelocal.se, 5/26/11 our online-comment: I am sure, many public health specialists in other countries would be glad if they could have such a system which reduces alcohol consumption to such an extent. In any case cheap alcohol by special sales reductions should be avoided.

I read with great interest earlier, this BBC News article about the Coalition Government’s plans to bring in a minimum price for alcohol in England and Wales.
In the Coalition Agreement, it was stated that: „We will ban the sale of alcohol below cost price“. Ministers are now fleshing out their proposals to make this a reality.
It will work by banning shops and bars from selling drinks for less than the tax paid on them. It is hoped that this will send a signal that the Government is clamping down on the sale of extortionately cheap alcohol. (Source: Google Alcohol News, 01/19/11) johnmarkcole.blogspot.com, 01/18/11 our Online Comment: It is fine to have an ideology. Then you don’t need thinking.
There is a lot of talking about personal freedom. What about my freedom when the alcohol industry forces me to pay a life long the huge alcohol related social costs? The World Health Organization has mentioned that we all are Passive Drinkers. We all suffer from the harm of alcohol consumption. Taxes are ridiculous low.
Everybody is free to consume according to its income. Drinking alcohol is not a human right. It is better to fight for jobs with an income which enables everybody to live a decent life, instead of giving cheap alcohol to keep the poor calm and down.
What about my personal freedom, when the media do not give the necessary information I need to discuss this matter and ask for the right measures to be taken by the government, because they are alcohol lobbyists? Did you know that in May 2010 the World Health Organization accepted with all 193 votes of the member states a resolution on a global alcohol strategy? In it the alcohol related harm on society and the evidence based measures for harm reduction are listed. Governments only had to implement those proposals, but instead they try everything which wouldn’t harm the alcohol industry. The industry keeps the profit, society pays the social costs in money and in life, etc.

Content, e.g.: * Alcohol, HIV and Public Health
* Alcohol and tobacco ‘more harmful than cannabis and ecstasy’
* Tax increases ‘superior to minimum prices’
* Facebook updates alcohol guidelines
* Eurocare Presses for Ingredient Labeling on Alcohol
* Convergence in teenage drunkenness in Western countries (Source: GAPA, The Globe)