Curbing alcohol abuse: Changing attitude & behaviour

There is no one solution to curbing alcohol abuse, although some measures may see more results than others. The effects of over-indulging in alcohol consumption continue to wreak havoc in society, and while the authorities have come up with some good ideas to protect public health, not all of the ideas will offer significant results. Some years ago, one such idea was levying a higher tax on alcohol products.
In order to develop the most effective measures to curb alcohol abuse, we must understand why there is a need to curb the abuse. The obvious answer is to have a society that is less susceptible to the ills resulting from excessive consumption. Domestic violence, fatalities due to driving under the influence, under-age drinking with its attendant ills, and other serious crimes are some consequences of alcohol abuse. Each is very damaging to society. Compounding the list of troubles are the social and economic effects of alcohol abuse. Families and relationships are ruined, and the state has to pick up huge medical bills when health complications develop. Were there residential rehab centres around the country, the economic cost to society would be more astronomical.
In 2010, the then Health Minister had called for higher tax on alcohol, given the debilitating effects that domestic violence, driving under the influence, and under-age drinking were having on the society. Over the years, health authorities have pointed out that consumption, and abuse, may be reduced through price increases induced by taxation. What policymakers were attempting to do, through this measure in 2010, was control the elasticity of the demand – the responsiveness of consumers to the product – with a tax increase. It was the notion that abuse can be curbed by taxation that has led to a call for increased taxes on alcohol. Even though there are numerous studies on the effects of taxation on consumption, in the case of alcohol, little has been done to examine the justification of a tax increase in terms of social costs. The latter term refers to the cost incurred by the whole society. Notwithstanding this, would higher taxation curb alcohol abuse to a satisfactory extent?
We also need to consider the paradoxical nature of alcohol consumption, and question the fairness of a tax increase. There are two classes of consumers: abusers and moderate drinkers. A price increase would be targeting the abusers, but at the same time would have an externality, or undesirable outcome, for moderate drinkers. That is primarily because it is impossible to differentiate between abusers and moderate drinkers at the point of sale. So, the responsible drinkers would be paying the price for the actions of abusers of alcohol.
Thirteen years later, we are again at the same place, with drinking and driving, domestic violence, alcohol abuse at its peak again. Maybe it’s time we do a proper assessment on if a higher tax on alcoholic products would have any effect.
Therefore, the best way to reduce the ills associated with alcohol abuse is by changing the attitude and behaviour to impact consumption. This is perhaps the most effective measure, one which the authorities must be more enthused about, because it is not always the easiest to do. There is numerous literature that supports the argument that a drinker’s behaviour has a lot to do with culture, upbringing, and societal influences. Sociologists, anthropologists, historians, and psychologists, in their study of different cultures and historical eras, have noted how malleable people’s drinking habits are. Over the course of socialisation, people learn about drunkenness what their society ‘knows’ about drunkenness. They accept and act upon the understandings thus imparted to them. They become the living confirmation of their society’s teachings. In other words, the problems associated with alcohol abuse are not simply a result of how much people drink; there are more factors to it. A more effective approach to stopping the ills of alcohol abuse is to change behaviour and the actions of people and society. But how do we do this? One of the ways have already been included in the Intoxicating Liquor Licensing (Amendment) Bill 2022, where those hundreds of rum shops and bars around the country are now required to verify age of patrons before serving alcohol; and bartenders can now be fined for selling alcohol to drunken persons who are likely to drive after leaving the business place. This is a good step to curbing this abuse; however, it is not enough.