Why are we complacent about alcohol?

doi:10.1136/bmj.328.7441.0-g

BMJ 2004;328 (20 March), doi:10.1136/bmj.328.7441.0-g

Editor's choice

Why are we complacent about alcohol?

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Twenty years ago I was a firebrand on firewater. I wrote rabidarticles in the BMJ describing the dramatic range and extentof damage from alcohol and considering the options for responding.If the media wanted an anti-alcohol campaigner I was one oftheir first choices. I ranted and raved, and one unintendedconsequence was that I became friends with many wine writersand got to taste some exquisite vintage claret and 100 yearold calvados. Now an old colleague in the battle against drinkwrites to ask me what went wrong. Why when things have got worsenot better am I silent on the issue? The more important question,I think, is why are we as a society so complacent about alcohol.The two questions have similar answers.

The answers are topical because the British government has justproduced its strategy for reducing harm from alcohol (p 659. . . [Full text of this article]

Richard Smith, editor

rsmith@bmj.com

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