Im not from canada but personally I would like all adult type things to be treated the same to some degree. cigs, booze, bud, gambling, strip joints, brothels. All should have warnings that also give addiction helplines. They should only be able to advertise at other adult businesses. They should have higher taxes than other things. They should not be allowed in public spaces or private spaces that don’t allow it. A driver of a motor vehicle or other dangerous activity should not be partaking or under the effects when doing the activity.
Pretty funny considering Brazeau was arrested for cocaine possession.
Totally agree. Including a ban on advertising. Just like cigarettes.
Alcohol contributes to 7 different types of cancer.
Alcohol advertising should also be banned in the same way tobacco ads are.
Slap a skull and crossbones on the bottle like they do in cartoons (and for cigarettes).
As someone who casually drinks I have zero issues either putting labels on alcohol.
I also like many have switched from alcohol based drinks to non alcoholic based drinks. I like beer, but I don’t need to be drunk. I don’t need it to numb my mind or my faculties.
I’m all for this to make it aware to everyone.
Drunk is the only time I truly enjoy life. Life is just dredging on day after day on a work, commute, sleep pattern that makes me hope for a young death
When I drink I feel like life is supposed to feel like. I feel like little things can make me happy and I truly enjoy those little things. If it kills me, at least I died enjoying SOMETHING. I know I need to stop, but it so hard when everything else is so awful.
That being said, labels would make sense.
You need to talk to a mental health professional.
No shit!?!
If you would like I’d like to offer support
Why I say this: In 3 weeks it will be 10 years since my last drink, after 23 years of continual self-abuse. I fell through every crack, yet I “”“made”" it (yes triple quotes lol) and I’ve been through just about every system there is. I’m really good at listening, validating, and giving my experiences to others
I intentionally turned myself off from being a game developer and tech madman, and I now work in peer support, withdrawal management, recovery/housing mentorship etc. Because I want to be the support that was never there for me when I need it
So I’m here for you if you need me my friend. Please don’t assume that I’ll tell you what’s right for you or anything along those lines :) You’ll be heard
Edit I figured out that there’s direct messaging so feel free to message me privately if you’d like
I wish there were more choices of non-alcohol beers, but it’s usually a choice of one shitty brand that tastes like soap or worse. There are good non-alcohol beers, but bars and pubs seem to have no interest in them.
But they sell $16 mocktails. They should be required to stock non alcohol alternatives as a condition of their liquor licence. But bars and pubs are run by idiots. A significant and growing population of people are Muslim and they are just ignoring their $.
A lot of that is because bars and pubs know intoxication leads to unbridled spending.
And they often cost as much as a regular beer, that’s one thing that puts me off them.
Same with non alcohol cocktails. They’re still $15 each.
It’s a pure ripoff. I worked in brewing, it costs less to make beer than to make soda.
100%.
What do you think about kombucha, i find it kinda itches the right spot
I’ve been trying this out myself, and I’d agree!
Watch the sugar in them, try to get one with no more than 10g sugar, the dryer the better but i dont care for the ones that have xylitol and stevia etc
While we’re at it, let’s add childproof containers. If cannabis has it, so should alcohol
If they put half the regulation effort into booze the same way they do with cannabis we wouldn’t be having this discussion.
I am holier than thou as I never really liked the taste of beer or booze. I have not had any alcohol for over 40 years.
I grew up with an alcoholic mother. Not violent but she was a grumpy unhappy drunk (for valid reasons). Like if I came home at night and the dog was out on the porch I knew she was toasted. Long story short she messed up ours and many others lives due to it.
I sold cannabis for over 40 yrs to friends that I grew up with and never once saw the level of destruction that booze did to the drinker and their surrounding circle compared to cannabis.
I agree there should be warning labels.
What the heck, they are on pretty much everything these days anyhow.
Well here’s the thing though (not to invalidate what you are saying about cannabis users). I’m just saying because I work in the field of addiction, and it’s a bit of a twist on the perspective
People often have an unconscious idea that the mood altering substance drives the behavior. But it’s actually the other way around, typically the specifics of the individual’s mental health and emotional issues drive the consumption of the specific substance.
Alcohol users, for example, have generally extreme anxiety disorders. Those arise for a variety of very valid reasons. So it’s more accurate to say people who have severe anxiety, tend to self-medicate with alcohol. And people who stick with cannabis, have other issues they are running from
It’s just a little twist on perspective, that’s all. A lot of times we think about what alcohol does to people, but neglect to see that the problem preceeds the drinking
I will declare my bias, even though I am a cannabis user, I think it is a substance which most people are in heavy denial about. We are currently exiting the zeitgeist of “it’s a panacea” and finally starting to embrace the fact that it’s a very dangerous substance for most users. We can overtly see for example a drunk punching a hole in the wall, but we don’t really see in the same way, a heavy cannabis user who’s becoming emotionally non-functional and can’t govern his/her own life. Or who can no longer distinguish observable reality from the thoughts in their head.
Huh I’m surprised smoking has only declined by 25% in the lat 20 years. I’d have guessed at least 50%.
20 years ago was 2005. It declined heavily from the 80s.
20 years ago was 2005
[Matt Damon ageing GIF]
The decline in smoking started well before 20 years ago, smoking rates used to be like 50% of the adult population, now it’s down to 10%ish.
However, based on online graphs, it seems like it has been closer to 50% over the last 20 years.
https://uwaterloo.ca/tobacco-use-canada/adult-tobacco-use/smoking-canada/historical-trends-smoking-prevalence https://www.macrotrends.net/global-metrics/countries/can/canada/smoking-rate-statistics
Lies, damn lies, and statistics, eh? Thanks for the sources!
Well it feels like more people are smoking weed than they used to.
And the myth than weed is not addictive still rages on the internet.
Hard agree. The amount of alcohol that humans can safely consume is approaching zero.
And … The Canada Alcohol Deficit studies indicate that our current alcohol deficit is over 6 billion dollars. Meaning that after we take in taxation on alcohol, and we deal with the social, health, and criminal costs, we’re down 6B (e: the linked article below shows just under 4Bn but that’s out of date)
Not only do we need warning labels, but we need to literally double the price of alcohol imo
It is zero. I was shocked at the effects of trace amounts of ethanol seen to mitochondrial function in my lab. Far less than a single shot in the body.
Labels are fine but increasing the price sounds ridiculous. I don’t drink alcohol but I cook with it all the time. I don’t need an increase in my grocery bill.
You burn off the alcohol anyway. Just use cheaper extracts or juices.
I’ve never used extracts before. Do you just reconstitute it? How does it fair in taste? I like making Japanese style sauces as well as french style reductions. I feel like this would be a very niche product outside of the common wines.
Your rationale is I don’t want to pay more because I don’t want to.
I understand, nobody does want to pay more for things, but the way taxation is structured means every bottle has a net cost to society. That’s not a justifiable or defensible position.
And your claim that you just cook with it is highly specious.
The assumptions you’re making are out of this world. Your reaching at things past criticalilty.
What the hell are you talking about, can you not connect the dots of a basic conversation?
Alcohol is a net detraction from our society… You don’t want it to go up in price because you enjoy the product and want it to be cheap. And you really don’t care if your ability to get it cheap means that it harms our society.
I feel like I’m talking to an infant here
This has been the national conversation on carbon taxes, and assholes won.
I don’t think you’ve considered all of the factors. The thing with alcohol is that it’s very cheap and very easy to produce in your own home. What you’re suggesting risks the development of black market bootlegging and all of the problems associated with it.
Education is the important part. I’m astounded that some people don’t know how bad alcohol is…
My grandpa was dry and an uncle was alcoholic for a long time. My upbringing was never shy from talking about the negative effects of alcohol.
However, our society is built such that alcohol is part of the machine to keep the anxiety at bay. Forcing a reduction of alcohol consumption by itself is a bad idea, as it would make all the anxiety problems worst. Make sure people know how dangerous it is, but allow people to find other tools to help where alcohol is used.
How to you break the social barrier of low confidence and shyness in young adults? How to you recharge and reset the overworked office brain? How to you release muscle tension after a long day of sports?
Serious athletes don’t drink.
Hehe, thanks for gatekeeping sports from literally all of my friends, including the two of them who got international-level medals.
Hard agree. The amount of alcohol that humans can safely consume is approaching zero.
The reality hasn’t changed, only our understanding of it.
People use and abuse both legal and illegal drugs as self medication. They have problems (no such thing as a happy drunk) and until we work out how to help them all deal with those problems people will continue to over expose themselves to harm because from their perspective it is better than the alternative.
Alcohol is implicated in a massive number of very serious health issues. The true extent doesn’t seem to get across in popular culture or media. I like to have a beer with a meal when I am dining out but you don’t have to know many people die of throat cancer for you to cut back your exposure to minimal amounts. Never been one of those people who needs a drink so I guess its a bit of a luxury to be able to step back and take an objective look. The people with the most risk and exposure often can’t do that. I don’t know that labels help them. It might divert new users but to what?
I think your view is very rational and compassionate. And I work in addiction recovery, so I’m actually proud of you for being informed enough to hold those opinions, especially as you haven’t suffered through an addiction. I would love it if more people took a more sober (heh) and humane view such as yourself.
To touch on what I’m thinking about your 2nd paragraph, I view alcohol as humanity’s oldest anti-anxiety medication. Perhaps its a one-dimensional view but I feel it explains it’s grip on people well into this “modern” age. (Well, modern enough to know better, right?) And not to get into a whole political foofaraw, I do think that capitalism has propped up huge industries that preyed on human frailty and vice, and governments got “addicted” to vice tax as well. Government has always been heavily embroiled, and those mammoth brewing corporations have insane political clout.
I’ve always had a strange interest in the undercurrents of liquor/social policy in my home Province of Manitoba. I’ve followed the evolution of our laws and policy far more than any normal person would. I could give an extemporaneous 2 hour presentation, with hot questions no effort lol
Our story starts in the late 70’s where liquor stores were open 10am-3pm M-F and any establishment which sold beer must have an attached hotel (under the justification that should a person find themselves intoxicated, they would have safe haven). Beer stores were open from 9am-6pm for the working man, as nobody got drunk on beer, only ever on spirits… or so it was said…
On the other side of the world here and the hotels in South Australia stopped serving alcohol at 6pm between 1915 and 1967. Did wonders for our binge drinking culture. People would race to the hotel after work to down as many beers as quickly as possible in what used to be called the 6 o’clock swill. A typical bar was very long to accommodate so many orders in a short time and tiled to deal with all the spills. People passed out in the streets at 6pm from a big nights drinking. The legal system is a very blunt instrument for changing human behavior with often unintended consequences.
Perhaps a worse vice in terms of societal harm currently is the gambling industry which is massive and growing and its just such an obvious scam and abuse by some of the most unethical and evil businesses around outside arms and human trafficking.
Before prohibition, brewers would offer free lunches to thousands of factory workers and many would spend their entire paycheck. It was really out of control.
IMO the big difference with gambling versus the other vices is how quickly it can ruin you. Most people take years before alcohol or cigarettes take their toll. Gambling you can ruin your life in an evening.
Can’t hurt
I think there are 0 people out there who would be surprised at that label.
Slightly inconvenient for booze manufacturers, like we care…
I dunno. I was surprised to learn the extent to which it’s carcinogenic. And the fact that there are no known benefits.
The carcinogenic nature of alcohol is vastly underestimated. At this point, beverage industry is behaving like big tobacco. North America was sold the health benefits of wine in the late 80s and it was always a lie.
Yeah, it’s like the pictures on cigarette packages. We all know it’s terrible for us, but if you’re addicted it probably won’t make a difference.
Still I’m all for it, it could help someone on the way to an addiction to think over their consumption.
We’ve had warning labels on cigarettes’ for ages, as a recovering alcoholic, I totally agree there should be warning labels.
I’ve always found it weird alcohol doesn’t have warning labels. I guess the risks are common knowledge but still. When I buy weed online, they send info about the risks with it
Just go all the way and do plain packaging and ban advertising for alcohol. Addictive poison and marketing mix about as well as a tire fire and gasoline.
