Fun-filled family event dampened by alcohol’s second hand effects

This past weekend Kingston held its annual Santa Claus Parade where 25,000 people from our community turned out to welcome in the holiday season.  Unfortunately, rather than hearing about the great turnout, and a community coming together, we have mostly heard about the 24 year old intoxicated man who was telling the crowds that there is no Santa.   This is a perfect example of alcohol’s second hand effects or “the impacts of alcohol to those other than the person doing the drinking”[1].   While we can’t be sure that this man only did this because he was intoxicated, alcohol likely at least contributed to the situation. 

Some are dismayed that anyone would do that, while others are dismayed at the fact that someone could be arrested for simply speaking freely to a crowd.  However, as the Kingston Police clarified in an interview with The National Post, “he was charged with two criminal counts — causing a disturbance by being drunk, which is a more minor criminal charge, and then we charged him with a breach of probation since he was on probation at the time. He was also charged with public intoxication.”[2]

Incidents such as these involving alcohol, contribute to a decrease in community well being.  What other second hand effects of alcohol have you noticed in our community?  Join the conversation on our Facebook page.  Let’s work together to ensure alcohol is only a part of our good times.

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[1] http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1360-0443.2009.02884.x/pdf

[2] http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/11/20/why-we-arrested-a-man-for-telling-kids-santa-wasnt-real-police-on-the-kingston-grinch/

 

 

The Business of Alcohol

Kingstonians are working hard to build a vibrant and sustainable community, with economic growth, quality of life, and culture at its core.  Conflict between these community goals can sometimes exist and work against the goal of sustainability.  This type of conflict can be seen in the sale and use of alcohol.  Alcohol sales contribute to the economy through local jobs and tourism, and through provincial government revenue.  They can also contribute to a city’s cultural environment through arts and entertainment.   All of these things together can have a positive effect on our community.  However, the fact remains that alcohol is a drug, and therefore not an ordinary commodity.  The sale and use of alcohol can also have a corresponding negative impact on the local community by reducing quality of life and safety, and increasing costs, e.g. public services.  There is a need to acknowledge this conflict and to balance the benefits and costs of alcohol in society. 

According to the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse, the costs attributable to alcohol in Canada total close to $15 billion for health care, enforcement and lost productivity.  In Ontario alone costs total $5.3 billion. Despite the revenue generated by alcohol sales in Ontario, alcohol-related costs including enforcement and health care are significant.   In a comparison of direct alcohol-related revenue and costs in Ontario in 2002-2003, the deficit totaled more than $456 million.  In addition to enforcement costs, communities such as Kingston are burdened with other municipally funded services including fire, ambulance, and public works. 

An economically strong and vibrant city is built upon a sense of community and a shared value for quality of life and wellbeing.   To achieve this goal we must accurately weigh the benefits and costs of our collective actions.  As one researcher in B.C. acknowledged, there is a need to maintain a balance between consumer demand and economic development on the one hand, and addressing public health and safety issues on the other. In times of increasing health care costs, these facts should not be ignored.  Carefully weighing the costs and benefits of a substance known to have both positive and negative impacts can be a cost effective way of reducing demands, often the most expensive demands, on our health care system. 

Our values around alcohol

On November 5^th, I had the privilege of listening to Ann Dowsett Johnston speak about alcohol and the current culture surrounding it.  Ann challenged a total of 85 community members, leaders and decision makers at 2 community forums to think about what our values around alcohol are.  Her presentations provided a springboard for beginning a conversation about how to create a healthier and safer community - one where alcohol related harm is minimized, and where alcohol is only a part of our good times. 

Ann believes that our values are “fuzzy”.  Many of us use alcohol as a reward, and often to relax and to celebrate.  But what we don’t often talk about is the fact that we also use it to numb and to forget our problems. She pointed out that “...we know a lot about trans fats and tanning beds, but we know very little about the health implications of our favourite drug”.  Ann also described how the media and marketing have contributed to a heavier drinking culture, and how the aggressive marketing of ‘alcopops’ by the spirits industry has contributed to an increase in alcohol consumption by women.  Women are fast approaching the consumption patterns of men.  

When weighing the costs and benefits of alcohol policies, local decision makers require factual and balanced information.  The research is clear in this area, and the Alcohol Report outlines a number of policy interventions that are effective in reducing consumption and related harm in communities.  So where do we go from here?  Next steps will be sharing this information more broadly to ensure we continue the conversation and foster further public dialogue on alcohol in the City of Kingston.  

It Starts Here: A Conversation about Alcohol in the City of Kingston

Here’s to good times.  To blue skies and Market Square.  To new friends and football games.  To patios and scenic shorelines.  The City of Kingston is a vibrant place to live, work, study and play.  Kingston’s story is one of a passionate and caring community. 

In fact, one of the values of the Sustainable Kingston plan is to ensure well-being – “...(to) create a sustainable community where all members of the community are able to meet their needs, advance their potential, and improve well being through healthy, safe, and fulfilling work and play”. 

From Public Health’s perspective, this is a shared value.  Ensuring the well-being and health of the community is central to the work of Public Health.  Great strides have been made in the City of Kingston in many areas, but there is an area in which we need to start having a serious conversation.  That area is alcohol, including current attitudes surrounding its use and misuse in our community.  Alcohol is so intricately woven into our social fabric that discussions surrounding it are often challenging, animated and personal. 

Many people drink alcohol to celebrate, to relax, to socialize, and to savour.  Some drink alcohol for courage, to forget, and to numb.  For others drinking alcohol is seen as a recreational activity where drinking games are the norm and drinking to get drunk is the ultimate goal. In a 2012 community alcohol survey, the most common reasons Kingston respondents gave for drinking alcohol included “for entertainment, to be sociable, and to relax”.  Ninety-eight percent of respondents believe entertainment is a common or very common reason to drink alcohol.  Still others drink alcohol because of loneliness, to escape and to forget their worries.  Eighty-four percent of respondents believe depression / loneliness is a common or very common reason to drink alcohol.²   Most of the time alcohol is simply a part of the good times - the fun evening out with friends, or the quiet dinner at home.  However, in far too many cases alcohol can be blamed for a good time gone wrong.   Why does this happen?   Do individuals simply need to take more responsibility and control their drinking, or do the environmental factors that encourage alcohol to be used in ways that are harmful, need to be addressed?

The cultural acceptance of alcohol use as recreation in our community perpetuates the myth that alcohol is an ordinary commodity.  However, as a commodity it is far from ordinary.  This report is intended to shed some light on a public health issue that continues to be downplayed in the popular media.  It’s time to begin a conversation, and examine the impact alcohol is having on individuals and the community at large and how we can create the conditions for alcohol use to only be a part of our good times.   It starts here.

As the coordinator of the Greater Kingston Area Safe & Sober Community Alliance (Alliance), it has been a privilege to work with so many engaged and passionate community partners.  In the early years of the partnership, our main focus was to raise awareness about drinking and driving and to support our police partners in increasing enforcement efforts on area roads.  The partnership name “Safe & Sober” reflects the focus of this work, which, along with our lead agency KFL&A Public Health, included advocacy at the provincial level.  While drinking and driving fatalities still represent about one-quarter of all traffic fatalities in Ontario, the good news is that provincial changes to drinking and driving legislation have been significant.  According to the Ministry of Transportation, Ontario currently has the safest roads of any jurisdiction in North America.

After the first 10 years, partners were asked to identify and prioritize how the Alliance could make a difference in the KFL&A community over the next 5-10 years.  It became clear at that time that there was a desire to broaden our mandate even further.  We knew that a cultural shift was required to de-normalize risky alcohol use in our community.  This was going to involve engaging and targeting youth, parents, and the community at large through community forums, material distribution, and the media.  In addition, we needed to target key community leaders and politicians to advocate for both provincial and local policies that could nurture a supportive environment – one where alcohol-related harm is minimized.  

 Before targeting these groups, we needed to document the impact of alcohol on the Kingston community.  After all, if there was nothing wrong, why try to fix it?  KFL&A Public Health and the Alcohol Strategy working group partners guided this process and supported the development of a local Alcohol Report.  

It is our hope that this will help motivate and guide key stakeholders in the development of a local Alcohol Strategy – a strategy built around evidence-informed policies and interventions that will help increase community health and safety, while at the same time reduce the financial burden on municipally funded services in dealing with alcohol-related problems. 

The challenge in moving forward will be in communicating who we are and where we are coming from.  The “Safe & Sober” Alliance is not calling for a return to prohibition.  But rather an acknowledgement that alcohol is no ordinary commodity and has the potential to impact the health of the population when used above low risk levels.  A monumental task?  Perhaps...but one that needs to begin with a conversation.  Won’t you join us?

Come and take part in an evening forum featuring Ann Dowsett Johnston – a Queen’s Alumna and award winning Journalist.  Her presentation entitled: “Our Love Affair with Alcohol: How a Fairy Tale Romance Blocks Strong Policy and How Media Can Help” will take place at St. Lawrence College in Davies Hall from 6:30 to 9:00 pm on Monday, Nov 5^th.  Read Ann’s 12-part series on Women and Alcohol published last Fall in the Toronto Star.

Cathy Edwards, Coordinator

Greater Kingston Area Safe & Sober Community Alliance