The Ministry of Health has abandoned the organization of a dry month, in reference to the British “Dry January”. It will take place in January 2020, launched by associations.
The government will not organize the “Dry January” French-style ? Associations take over. The French Federation of Addictology (FFA) has announced that it will set up this operation next January in order to raise awareness among the French population about alcohol consumption.
the #DryJanuary à la française will take place!
? A “Challenge for January”
?? Take a break to assess your relationship to drug use#alcohol https://t.co/UQBbqguf4p pic.twitter.com/9DK0lFJK8J– French Federation of Addictology (@FFAddictologie) November 22, 2019
The weight of lobbies?
“Dry January” was a proposal from Public Health France, which was ultimately not validated by the Ministry of Health. In The Parisian, a representative of the Ministry explains: “We first want to raise awareness of the recent concept of new consumption benchmarks, that is to say no more than two glasses a day and no more than ten a week, with two days of abstinence”. Many people suspect the government of being influenced by lobbies, which has been denied by the Ministry of Health.
Pause to take stock
The associations, under the aegis of the FFA, will organize the mobilization via a Facebook account, a slogan and a hashtag on social networks: #LeDéfiDeJanvier. “This social mobilization will allow, on a strictly voluntary basis, to launch a challenge during the month of January to assess one’s relationship to alcohol consumption by taking a break after the end of the year holiday period”, specifies a communicated. More than a month of deprivation, this period is designed to take a break in order to better understand his relationship to alcohol. “Dry January would allow everyone to see if they sleep better, if they miss alcohol, if they manage to do without it or not, this break is interesting”, adds Professor Amine Benyamina, president of the FFA .
Long-term benefits
Popular in the United Kingdom where it is supported by public authorities, “Dry January” involves quitting alcohol for a month. In 2018, nearly three million Britons would have taken up the challenge. According to studies carried out on the participants, the benefits of the month without alcohol would be multiple: 71% slept better, 58% lost weight and 88% lost money. Six months later, they continued to drink less and less often. These positive results were also present in people who had given up along the way or made exceptions. According to the FFA, alcohol is responsible for 42,000 deaths each year in France.
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