Have you had a "Dry November"? Now that December is upon us, those that decided to abstain for the month of November might suppose that they can look forward to imbibing the Christmas spirit, safe in the knowledge that their month-long dry spell will set them in good stead for the busy festive period.
"[Those who abstained in November's] cholesterol and blood pressure will improve, their weight will generally fall and their blood sugar, which is an indicator of risk of diabetes, will be improved also."
This is all good news. So if you have been good for all of November, that gives you a licence to let your hair down, doesn't it? Not so fast, says Professor Frank Murray, chair of the Alcohol Health Alliance and liver specialist in Beaumont hospital. He told Seán O'Rourke that "going mad" for Christmas after a dry November would be very counter-productive. One death per day in Ireland is due not to the long-term effects of drinking alcohol, but to incidents or accidents that arise from taking what is a mind-altering addictive drug.
"In Ireland, unfortunately, we are among the heaviest drinkers in western Europe. We have a majority of people who drink in a way that's either hazardous or harmful."
The consequences of harmful drinking at this time of year are evident in hospitals throughout the country. Prof Murray and his colleagues tend, he says, to see a lot of deaths. And young deaths in particular tend to be related to incidents and accidents, violence, road accidents and suicide.
An advocate of minimum unit pricing for alcohol, Prof Murray told Seán that international evidence – particularly from Canada – suggests that a strategy like minimum unit pricing is associated with reduced risk of hospitalisation due to alcohol, death due to alcohol and crime due to alcohol. In addition, the cost to the state of dealing with all of those falls.
"What we are arguing in favour of is getting rid of the tidal wave of cheap alcohol that's really having a tremendously detrimental effect here in Ireland."
The Public Health (Alcohol) Bill is currently going through the Houses of the Oireachtas.
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