What are the government doing about ‘our’ drinking problem, and why it’s the complete wrong approach

It’s difficult to imagine seeing an advertisement for a cigarette brand plastering the tube station walls. These days, it’s almost impossible to look beyond the grey uniform labelling and the images of diseased organs to actually tell the brand of cigarette at all. But not too long ago cigarettes were advertised and glamorised, smoking was publicly accepted and the health consequences were largely swept under the carpet. On the flip side, alcohol is not only accepted; it is actively encouraged.

Alcohol is effectively poison. It does undeniable, visible damage to our health when health is really the most important asset we have. Yet, beyond increasing prices, deterrents are few and far between. 

Influences, pushes and pulls to alcohol are everywhere in the UK. There’s a pub in villages that don’t even have a shop, and in cities there seem to be more pubs than anything else. There’s bottomless brunch, beer pong, “its 5 o clock somewhere”, Happy Hour, James Bonds dry martini, tinnies in the park, after-work pints on a Friday night…. Alcohol is on TV chat shows, adverts on the tube, at the theatre, festivals, restaurants. It’s near impossible to spend a day without consuming an influence towards drinking. It's no wonder all these things are so persuasive - because if we want to have a conversation about alcohol, you have to acknowledge why it is so attractive to people in the first place. That drinking is really, really fun.

The UK doesn’t drink drastically more than its European counterparts, but binge drinking is an inherent part of how people drink in this country. And many statistics point to the fact that drinking culture and alcohol consumption is getting worse. For example, according to Public Health England “liver mortality rates in England increased 43% between 2001 and 2019, to the extent that liver disease is now the second leading disease causing premature death among people of working age”.

This UK drinking problem provoked an official response; in 2012, the Home Office published ‘The Government’s Alcohol Strategy’, which proposed a ‘crackdown’ on binge drinking culture and aimed ‘to turn the tide against irresponsible drinking’. This strategy involved a wide range of proposals such as more information about unit count, effective treatment and recovery, higher prices, and higher fines. Almost 10 years on from this strategy, one of the most effective and important sections; ‘prevention’, seems to have fallen flat.

The problem with a ‘crackdown’ on drinking, is that it absolves the influencing parties, and lets the responsibility lie with the drinkers instead. Yet it isn't the individual who panders to lobbying elites and allows poor regulation of alcohol advertising. It’s not drinkers who are to blame for long working hours, low pay and the increasing cost of living that push them towards wanting to let off steam. Like many things under capitalism, the blame for problem drinking is put on the individuals that drink, not the systemic reasons that make it so easy to do so.

We don’t need a crackdown on alcohol, we need better advertising regulation, more alcohol-free alternatives, less stressful lives, and healthier options for having fun.  

Alcohol Change revealed that people don’t want to drink as much as they do, but we lack options or any reason not to. People who drink often might be labelled problem drinkers - but their reasons for drinking could be so normal. Some people might want to use it to extend an activity or take a night somewhere further. Others might want it to soothe anxiety, lower inhibitions and gain some confidence to fit into events, parties and other social situations. Completely valid reasons, and aside from other drugs, what else can fill that description?

Drinking doesn’t always come from a place of issues and a need for escape. For a lot of people, it is simply a good time - and there are a lack of other options for that same release. 

Looking at the way alcohol is visible and promoted, it’s no wonder people drink so much. It isn’t just aggressively normalised, it’s advertised - to the point where the government's Alcohol Strategy comes across oblivious and ignorant. If someone wants to cut down their consumption - social habits don’t make that easy. But it is also difficult to maintain a healthy balanced relationship with alcohol once it's entered your life, because it is a drug. The binging nature of drinking culture in the UK creates an environment that makes it extremely difficult for someone to cut down. The stage is set for the individual to enter into a dynamic with alcohol where the pressure is all on them, and if it does become a problem - they will be the one who carries the blame.

Funding treatment for alcohol abuse is of course fantastic, but the promotion of good health, a shift in society towards this not being so normalised, is a consistently underrated method of preventing problem drinking before it occurs. Promotion of evening activities that don’t have drinking associations, and a better balance in the world of work are a few things that should be considered in a revised Alcohol Strategy. 

Another good place to start would be to consider the influence of advertising in public spaces. Alcohol advertising is poorly regulated in general considering its psychological impacts. As an example the exposure to addiction where related cues in our environment are always an underestimated factor in what draws people in. Perhaps some lessons could be taken from the changes to tobacco marketing, or perhaps alcohol just doesn’t need to be mentioned in public advertising at all. People have enough encouragement towards drinking in their social circles - they don't need to see it on posters as well. 

The landscape of drinking is always shifting and there have been notable changes that people in the UK can notice. Alcohol Change report that around 20% of people don’t drink, a statistic that is increasing for young people. There are low and no alcohol drinks that replicate almost every popular choice, Dry January has become a well-known annual challenge. These changes will help with sobriety, but there are deeply embedded roots that need to be addressed too.

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Rose Mason is a writer on a whole host of topics, from sustainability, to politics, to chatting about her daydreams. She lives in London and is usually found hunched over her laptop or playing board games with her friends.