Alcohol balancing act

The Public Health Ministry worries that online sales allow under-age customers to order alcohol, anywhere and at any time. I assume that the ministry which is normally extremely thorough in its health promotion programming, has based this decision on the results of a scientific study of the issue.

If so, details should be made public. In the event that a rigorous study has not been conducted, then steps should be taken to undertake one, and the decision to enforce a ban reserved until results are available.

Even if strong evidence does show that there is an issue with online purchases of alcohol by underage customers, there are effective alternative measures that can be taken to address the problem, which involve less inconvenience to customers and retailers. I’m not sure how the National Committee on Alcohol Beverage Policy, which made the decision, defines “online sales”, but in my experience of online alcohol purchases during the Covid-19 lockdown, the websites concerned require customer registration, including details of age and address. If online sales websites do not already require such details, surely it would be a simple matter to include them The delivery of goods provides a further opportunity to check the age of customers. This should also be a requirement for any orders taken by phone or social media platforms, should these sales channels also fall into the National Committee’s definition of “online”.

The task faced by the Health Ministry is a difficult one. It has a mandate to reduce alcohol abuse and death and injury from traffic accidents. However, in so doing, it faces enormous pressure from, on the one hand, the powerful vested interests of the alcohol companies that are promoting consumption, and, on the other, the religious organisations that, for reasons unrelated to health, want to see alcohol sales and consumption prohibited.

All the more reason that any actions taken to reduce alcohol-related harm should be based on solid evidence and, in the design of preventive actions, draw on the wealth of experience from other countries that have successfully addressed the problem.

N PARKER