4 ms·

Well, this has been known for a while. A French demographer, Sully Ledermann, observed in the late 40s that there was a connection between total alcohol consump

Well, this has been known for a while. A French demographer, Sully Ledermann, observed in the late 40s that there was a connection between total alcohol consumption and certain illnesses and accidents - in other words, that it appeared total consumption and harmful consumption were tightly connected. A lot of research has been done on it over the years, basically confirming it and uncovering how it works socially in practice. It has also been the basis for much successful alcohol policy, especially in Scandinavia where public health statistics has a long history (much due to the Lutheran state churches, but that's another story). They have focused on reducing total consumption, rather than, say, targeted interventions aimed at heavy drinkers, and it has worked well (except politically, arguably. There's a price to be paid for trying to nudge everyone including moderate drinkers to drink less!)

gerikson 4y ago
I'd say there's a broad acceptance in Sweden for the restrictive alcohol policy: - age limit of 20 (18 in restaurants) - state monopoly on sales of alcoholic beverages >3.5% ABV - high taxes on alcoholic beverages Of course, there's a lot of gray imports from the EU, and some home production (hembränning). These have probably taken the edge off political opposition to the monopoly.
- vintermann 4y ago
  There's acceptance, but at least not in here Norway, not exactly approval. A broad majority in the political parties have agreed that the main line in alcohol policy is restricting harms by restricting access - they refer to this consensus themselves explicitly, so it's not a conspiracy theory by any means. But that's politicians, drawn from the activist class. I'm quite certain there's a lot less consensus in the people, and possibly many "quit bothering us over alcohol, why can't it be cheap and accessible?" votes to be populistically fished for.
  - gerikson 4y ago
    If there's a big fault line developing in Sweden it's about recreational drugs (weed, specifically). The politicians will have a harder and harder time holding the hard line as more and more countries and regions legalize.

gerikson 4y ago

I'd say there's a broad acceptance in Sweden for the restrictive alcohol policy: - age limit of 20 (18 in restaurants) - state monopoly on sales of alcoholic beverages >3.5% ABV - high taxes on alcoholic beverages Of course, there's a lot of gray imports from the EU, and some home production (hembränning). These have probably taken the edge off political opposition to the monopoly.

vintermann 4y ago
There's acceptance, but at least not in here Norway, not exactly approval. A broad majority in the political parties have agreed that the main line in alcohol policy is restricting harms by restricting access - they refer to this consensus themselves explicitly, so it's not a conspiracy theory by any means. But that's politicians, drawn from the activist class. I'm quite certain there's a lot less consensus in the people, and possibly many "quit bothering us over alcohol, why can't it be cheap and accessible?" votes to be populistically fished for.
- gerikson 4y ago
  If there's a big fault line developing in Sweden it's about recreational drugs (weed, specifically). The politicians will have a harder and harder time holding the hard line as more and more countries and regions legalize.