Alcohol policy: Why and roughly how?

Abstract

Ole-Jørgen Skog: Alcohol policy: Why and roughly how? The paper addresses two basic questions: Firstly, are there good reasons for having alcohol control policies – reasons that would be acceptable even from a libertarian point of view? Secondly, if so, at what and whom should these policies be targeted? In the first section, three arguments for restriction on individual freedom with respect to addictive and potentially harmful drugs are briefly discussed. The second section asks how a meaningful policy should be designed – with particular reference to alcohol. Should a preventive policy focus on drunkenness and long-term heavy drinkers, or on drinking in general and the drinking culture as a whole? In the subsequent sections, the second question is pursued. Two main issues are discussed, namely, the ‘preventive paradox’ and the interdependence of individual drinking (i.e., the collectivity of drinking cultures). It is concluded that an efficient prevention policy will inevitably affect the ‘ordinary’ drinkers as well as the ‘abusers’.