Alcohol policy

Summary

A survey of alcohol prices and consumption, delirium tremens and mortality due to chronic alcoholism from 1911 to 1975 shows (a) a close association between alcohol duty, the price of different types of alcohol and consumption, and (b) a close correlation between the amount of alcohol which can be bought for an average one-hour salary, and consumption. During the forties, approximately 10cl akvavit could be obtained for an average one-hour salary, but in 1975 this had increased to 40 cl, and the 5 bottles of beer which could be bought for an average one-hour salary in the forties and fifties had increased to 14 bottles. During the same period, consumption expressed as 100% alcohol increased from approximately 2.5 to 9.31 per person per year, and the frequency of delirium tremens rose to more than 10 times the frequency in the forties und early fifties. The association between the frequency of delirium tremens and chronic alcoholism is stressed. One of the essential causes of the remarkable increase in alcohol consumption by approximately 400% from the forties to 1975 has most probably been the approximately 400% increase in purchasing power concerning alcohol in relation to income. An alcohol policy with intensive information, research and a well-planned alcohol duty policy with relatively heavy duties on distilled spirits and more moderate duties on beer and wine is recommended. The amount of akvavit, which can be bought for an average one-hour salary, should be reduced considerably from the present 40 cl to as near as possible the level of 10 cl, as was the case in the forties when alcohol diseases such as delirium tremens, liver cirrhosis and mortality from chronic alcoholism in Denmark were minimal, compared with what they are at present. On the background of these recommendations one step in this direction was taken by the Danish government in the fall of 1977, and the previous steep increase in alcohol consumption has not only been stopped, but changed to a decrease from 9.3 1 100% alcohol per person during 1976 to 9.0 1 in 1977.