This is Part 2 of 3 in my Thirsty Thursday series.
I was working at the Canadian Cancer Society when research we had funded unequivocally connected consuming any amount of alcohol with increased breast cancer risk. It was around 2008.
Our staff, all women, all drank wine. We had fundraising events marketed around drinking.
We changed our fundraising policies but most of us did not change our drinking habits.
On July 23, 2011 Amy Winehouse died of alcohol poisoning. I was working at the AIDS Committee of London where we provided safer drug use supplies. Drinking alcohol was a big part of our culture. Harm reduction and abstinence sat uncomfortably next to each other but it didn’t cause me to stop drinking alcohol.
I did, however, try to find information on the total social harms of alcohol. Not just the deaths from alcohol poisoning or drunk driving but where was the data on how alcohol was affecting our communities?
It turns out we don’t track those kinds of things much. There is a great interview with Dr Ian Gilmore from 2014 that covers the key issues.
https://youtu.be/M9zmUpD-EPM?si=oPVRpbBQUtCxGqM7
In the 12 years since that interview the deregulation and opening up of access to alcohol has dramatically changed here in Ontario, Canada. You can now purchase beer, wine and premixed cocktails at gas stations and grocery stores at all hours of the day.
This month The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health published their 2025 monitoring report.
CAMH monitor, full report 2025
The news is mixed, many people in Ontario continue to consume alcohol at a greater volume and frequency than they did before the pandemic.
While slightly fewer people drink compared to the year before, those who do are drinking more.
Access and price are well known factors that affect alcohol consumption. Looking back at the video from 2014 it is as though Dr Gilmore already saw the future.
Our access and pricing are at odds with our public health guidelines in Canada.
Canadian Low-risk drinking guidelines
Since alcohol is a carcinogen the guidelines start with reminding us that any amount of alcohol can have risks to your health. That is a very harsh truth.
It’s one I’ve been mulling over for nearly two decades before deciding to stop drinking.
I don’t think everyone needs to leave alcohol behind. I do think we need honest discussions about why we are comfortable increasing access and consumption without considering all consequences.
I don’t drink much. And I decided to cut out alcohol completely for January (despite my raised eyebrows around dry January in past years–hoisted on my own etc…as usual). I’m surprised by how challenging I’m finding it to say no. And how many occasions there are to say no. Eye opening.
Just my own experience there: I never did drink. It was not a moral issue, or a health one, I just took a few sips in my teen years & didn’t like them. I was stubborn enough not to care what others thought. Oh, and I was that age just as marijuana and other drugs were becoming the entertainment of choice in many circles. I didn’t do those, either, again, just didn’t like the idea of smoking, and no one offered me the brownies until I had decided not to do it. So, after several years, I was, a non-drinker/user, about 45, about to take over the family business from my father. Often, the only woman at the table, so generally the one whose drink order was taken first. I had NO desire to make others uncomfortable with their wine orders. I toyed with the idea of learning to drink white wine. My (by then adult) daughter offered me a sip of hers, one she thought was an easy taste to like. Nope. I didn’t hate it, but I really didn’t like it either. So, I learned to order my Perrier or lemonade in a very soft voice.
It’s too bad it is such a sensitive issue. We all choose to do things that are not all that safe, like driving around in our cars. Or, just for fun, skiing, bicycling, high intensity cardio or weights. Some of us like to spend a lot of time with coffee, or cookies, or other treats.
My hope going forward, is that les people will drink as much as is common now, because it really can hurt them, and might hurt me out on the road, but that we would figure out how to let go of the moral weight it is so unfairly invested with.
Oh, and as far as I can remember, my lemonade never did stop any of my mealtime companions from ordering their wine or martinis. So, at least worrying about saying no for the social weight it might carry – maybe we can pretty much let go of that.