Dr.’s advice: Use LCBO revenues to fund alcohol harm reduction programs in Ontario

Well it’s been another banner year for alcohol sales in Ontario, which totalled 4.9 billion dollars in net sales for 2012-2013.  On Monday the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) announced that they were able to turn over a dividend of 1.7 billion dollars to the Ontario government, not including taxes.  There is no doubt that this money is an important source of revenue for the province.  In their news release the LCBO claims that these revenues help pay for health care, education, infrastructure and other important priorities. 

The biggest issue is that very little of this money goes back into alcohol prevention and harm reduction programs.  While some of the money is targeted at health care, it is not public health or health promotion they are referring to, but rather the illness care system.

The Ontario Medical Association’s (OMA) recent policy paper recommends that some of the LCBO dividends be used for alcohol prevention programs.  In a news item this week, OMA President Dr. Scott Wooder states:

“(I’ve) seen alcohol affect people’s lives in a list of ways, from losing their jobs and families because of heavy drinking, to affecting their health” and “there should be alcohol harm reduction programs targeted to both adults and youth”

As highlighted in a previous post on the revenues vs. costs of alcohol in Ontario, the costs clearly outweigh the revenues.  So while 1.7 billion dollars is good news for the government, perhaps it’s time we looked at the other side of the story?