How to fight against harmful alcohol consumption? By increasing the taxation of alcoholic beverages, according to a report of the Court of Auditorspublished on June 13, 2016. The Court of Auditors recalls that 8.8 million French regularly consume alcohol and that, among them, 3.4 million are at-risk consumers, of whom only 10% would be covered. A worrying finding, especially since “alcohol consumption is a sensitive subject in France, because alcohol is associated with festive events, lifestyles, culture and gastronomy“underlines the Court of Auditors, which explains the difficulty in implementing a health and safety policy against alcoholism.
Increase the price of alcohol to reduce its consumption
To the expression “fight against alcoholism“, the Court of Auditors prefers that of”harmful alcohol consumption“. And to reduce them, it proposes to raise awareness among consumers of the harmful effects of alcohol on health and social life, and to empower them individually in their relationship to alcohol consumption. These preventive actions are taking place. address as a priority to the most vulnerable groups: pregnant women, young people and people in difficulty.
Moreover, relying on the idea that “the relationship between the price and the level of alcohol consumption is decisive“, the Court of Auditors recommends increasing the prices of alcoholic beverages to lower their consumption. For this, the institution proposes to play on the taxes that could be revised”in order to target risky consumption according to the drinks“. Thereby, “a first increase could thus be calibrated on the basis of a revenue target of 200 million euros, with a more significant effort on wine, given the recent increases in duties on beers and spirits.“The Court of Auditors is also considering increasing the price of fines for offenses linked to drunkenness (accident, violence or drunkenness on public roads).
Alcohol, the leading cause of hospitalization in France
According to the Institut de Veille Sanitaire (InVS), alcohol was responsible for 49,000 in 2009, which would make it the second cause of preventable death. Alcohol is also the leading cause of hospitalization and excessive consumption of alcoholic beverages is associated with around sixty pathologies such as cardiovascular illnesses, from colon cancers, of breast, rectum and liver, digestive pathologies and diabetestype 2.
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