Alcohol: No Ordinary Commodity Research and public policy

Alcohol: No Ordinary Commodity is a collaborative effort by an international group of addiction scientists to improve the linkages between addiction science and alcohol policy. It presents, in a comprehensive, practical, and readily accessible form, the accumulated scientific knowledge on alcohol research that has a direct relevance to the development of alcohol policy on local, national, and international levels. It provides an objective basis on which to build relevant policies globally and informs policy makers who have direct responsibility for public health and social welfare. By locating alcohol policy primarily within the realm of public health, this book draws attention to the growing tendency for governments, both national and local, to consider alcohol misuse as a major determinant of ill health, and to organize societal responses accordingly. The scope of the book is comprehensive and global. The authors describe the conceptual basis for a rational alcohol policy and present new epidemiological data on the global dimensions of alcohol misuse. The core of the book is a critical review of the cumulative scientific evidence in seven general areas of alcohol policy: pricing and taxation, regulating the physical availability of alcohol, modifying the environment in which drinking occurs, drinking-driving countermeasures, marketing restrictions, primary prevention programs in schools and other settings, and treatment and early intervention services. The final chapters discuss the current state of alcohol policy in different parts of the world and describe the need for a new approach to alcohol policy that is evidence-based, global, and coordinated. A valuable resource for those involved in addiction science and drug policy, as well as those in the wider fields of public health, health policy, epidemiology, and practising clinicians.

1 - Setting the Policy Agenda
2 - Alcohol: No Ordinary Commodity
3 - Alcohol Consumption Trends and Patterns of Drinking
4 - The Burden of Alcohol Consumption
5 - The Alcohol Industry: A Nexus of Considerable Influence
6 - Overview of Strategies and Interventions to Prevent and Reduce Alcohol-Related Harm
7 - Controlling Affordability: Pricing and Taxation Strategies
8 - Regulating the Physical Availability of Alcohol
9 - Restrictions on Marketing
10 - Education and Persuasion Strategies
11 - Drinking and Driving Prevention and Countermeasures
12 - Modifying the Drinking Context: Reducing Harm in the Licensed Drinking Environment and Other Contexts
13 - Treatment and Early Intervention Services
14 - The Policy Process: Multiple Stakeholders, Multiple Agendas
15 - Economic Interests, Public Health Priorities and the Global Governance of Alcohol
16 - Alcohol Policies: A Consumer's Guide

Thomas F. Babor is an Emeritus Professor and former Chairman in the Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Connecticut School of Medicine. He served as Head of Social Science Research at McLean Hospital's Alcohol and Drug Abuse Research Center in Belmont, Massachusetts. In 1977, he received a Research Scientist Development Award from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. In 1982 he moved to the University of Connecticut School of Medicine where he was the Scientific Director of the Alcohol Research Center and Interim Chair of the Department of Psychiatry. He has worked with the World Health Organization on the development of Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) and the Alcohol, Substance Involvement Screening Test (ASSIST). He is also Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs. Sally Casswell is Director of a WHO Collaborating Centre and Co-director of SHORE & Whariki Research Centre, Massey University, New Zealand. Her research interests are in social and public health policy in relation to alcohol and other commodities. She was selected by her peers to receive the Jellinek Memorial Award, the premier international award for alcohol research, for her contributions to 'the understanding of social and cultural drinking patterns and public attitudes' and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand. She has published more than 200 articles in peer reviewed international journals, is a member of the World Health Organisation's Expert Advisory Panel on Alcohol and Drug Dependence and the Strategic and Advisory Group, NCDs and is Chair of the Global Alcohol Policy Alliance. Kathryn Graham is a Senior Scientist Emeritus and Adjunct Professor. The hallmark of Dr. Graham's research has been a focus on community. She is known for her contributions to understanding and preventing alcohol-related violence, including: the Safer Bars program; “Raising the Bar”, a landmark book on preventing violence in drinking venues; the use of observational and street intercept approaches to study bar violence; highlighting the impact of sexual aggression in bars; and leading analyses on intimate partner violence in a multi-country project on gender, culture and alcohol. She was founding editor of the International Journal of Alcohol and Drug Research and has worked with community services and stakeholders to develop a systems approach to addressing complex needs of persons with co-occurring addiction, mental health and violence problems. For her accomplishments in developing research-driven community interventions, she was awarded the Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal in 2002. Taisia Huckle is a senior researcher whose research focuses on evidence-based alcohol and public health research to address alcohol-related harm. The major focus has been on original research and knowledge transfer in her areas of research expertise- alcohol consumption and harms, alcohol policy, and alcohol's harm to others. Dr Huckle has published numerous journal articles on alcohol use and has contributed to two World Health Organisation books. She is a Deputy Editor for Drug and Alcohol Review, an international peer reviewed journal, and regularly reviews manuscripts for high impact journals. She has been an invited speaker at national events, presented evidence in Alcohol Regulatory Licensing Authority hearings and regularly presents papers at national and international conferences. She currently has a Sir Charles Hercus Fellowship funded by the Health Research Council of New Zealand. Michael Livingston is an epidemiologist and public health researcher working at the National Drug Research Institute at Curtin University. Dr Livingston has published widely on alcohol policy, alcohol consumption, and alcohol-related harm, making particular contributions to research into the impacts of liquor licensing policies on alcohol problems and on youth drinking trends. He has published over 150 papers and been awarded a series of highly competitive fellowships from major Australian research funders. Livingston's work has had substantial impact on policy in Australia and internationally and has been recognised via prizes from the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council, The Kettil Bruun Society for Social and Epidemiological Research on Alcohol and Research Australia. Esa Österberg is a senior researcher at the Alcohol, Drugs and Addiction department of the National Institute for Health and Welfare in Helsinki, Finland. Prior to this he worked as a researcher at the Social Research Institute of Alcohol Studies and as a senior researcher at the Alcohol and Drug Research Group of the National Research and Development Centre for Welfare and Health. Dr Österberg participated in the 'European Comparative Alcohol Study' in the late 1990s and coordinated the alcohol policy task force of the Eurocare project Bridging the Gab(BtG). Currently he is part of the projects 'Alcohol Measures for Public He