Drug and Alcohol Review (i993) I2, i i i - i i 3

B R I E F C O M M U N I C A T I O N

Response to the Distilled Spirits Industry Council of Australia Inc. position paper "Alcohol Availability'

DAVID HAWKS

National Centre for Research into the Prevention of Drug Abuse, Curtin University of Technology, Perth, tFestern Australia Abstract

A critique is offered of the DistiUed Spirits Industry Council position paper "Alcohol Availability: It is argued that this position paper presents a simple:minded analysis of the complex relationship between the availability of alcohol and its consumption which pays no attention to the importance of price in determining consumption. As a consequence, it misconstrues the lessons to be drawn from the Victorian experiment in liberalization and fails to consider its implications for the incidence of alcohol related problems. [Hawks D. Response to the Distilled Industry Council of Australia Inc. position paper 'Alcohol Availability'. Drug Alcohol Rev x993;I2:m-xx3.]

Key words: alcohol industry; alcohol related problems; availability; consumption.

Introduction

The Distilled Spirits Industry Council of Australia Inc. has produced a position paper (July I992 ) based on changes in the availability of alcohol in Victoria, which purports to demonstrate that a key policy prescription of the 'anti-alcohol lobby' is demonstrably mistaken. This brief paper will attempt to show that the position paper not only misrepresents this prescription, but provides a simple-minded analysis of the Victorian experi- ence which, if it does anything, probably supports the position taken by those who advocate a public health approach to the minimization of alcohol- related harm.

L The relationship between availability and consumption

Proponents of the public health approach argue that there is a relationship between the availability of alcohol and its consumption; they acknowledge, however, that it is far from being a simple relationship. To increase the number of outlets or change the mix of licences is not necessarily to increase the availability of alcohol or to ensure its increased consumption. The number of outlets is but one component of alcohol's availabilityi another is its cheapness relative to people's disposable income. If the number of outlets from which alcohol can be purchased is increased, as

David Hawks, PhD, Director and Professor of Addiction Studies, National Centre for Research into the Prevention of Drug Abuse, Curtin University of Technology, GPO Box UI987, Perth, Western Australia 6oo~, Australia. Correspondence to Professor Hawks.

l l I

H2 Dav id Hawks

Table L Numbers of licences in existence--i986-z99s. Licensed Outlets Growth: The period x Yuly 1988 to 3o June i99i sees a total growth of 36.6% in liquor licences operating in Kictoria (Comparative data for s986 and 087 is included)

Licence type 3 ° June 1986 3 ° June i987 3 ° June r988 3 ° June 1989 3 ° June r99o 3 ° June i991

General x434 1436 1447 I457 I5o7 1523 Residential 24 32 36 71 IH 142 On-premises 571 634 731 io79 x492 1769 Packaged liquor 791 807 83i 904 Io59 II4O Producer/dist. 257 279 3Ol 326 356 368 Club (full) 567 575 580 606 655 680 Club (restricted)* o 9x5 1114 i174 1239 i259 Limited: annual 69 i2o 172 206 238 239

Total 3713 4798 5212 5823 6657 712o Yearly % increase - - 22.61 7.94 Io.49 14.32 6. 5

* The licensing of Restricted Clubs was introduced under the Liquor Control Act 1968. Prior to 3 ° June 1987, they operated under permit rather than licence conditions.

Source: Position Paper Alcohol Availability, Distilled Spirits Industry Council of Australia Inc., July I992.

Table 2. Changes in liquor purchases. Changes in liquor purchases by licensees from i988/89 to 299o/9I. The comparison is made in reruns of the percentage increase or decrease over the previous year for both the average purchases

per licensee and the total purchase per licence category

Beer Wine Spirits All liquor % change % change % change % change

Licence type $ Litres $ Litres $ Litres $ Litres

General --1.94 --8.07 --7.41 --3.60 --5.80 --I2.84 --3.52 --7.87 Packaged liquor 7.2i o.19 2.59 --0.29 --6.57 --12.37 2.67 --0.39 On-premises 7.63 9.20 --6.i 7 4.11 1.19 --6.42 o.19 7.18 Club (full) 5.03 --2.44 -- I2.86 --5-93 --2.34 --4.o4 1.94 --2.61 Residential 17.o6 i5.44 8.19 io.49 7.08 o.io lO.52 i3.37

All licences 1.83 --4.59 2.32 --1.55 --5 -81 -- 12.35 --0.67 --4-46

Source: Position Paper--Alcohol Availability, Distilled Spirits Industry Council of Australia Inc., July 1992.

appears to have occurred in Victoria (see Table i), at the same time as average disposable income has decreased, as would also appear to have happened in Victoria, it is by no means certain that consumption will increase. Indeed, if price is the most powerful determinant of consumption, as argued by advocates of the public health approach, it would be expected that consumption would decrease, as would seem to have occurred in Victoria (see Table 2).

Nor is one outlet to be equated with another. Replacing one hotel licence with even five restau- rant licences is not necessarily to increase the availability of alcohol, let alone its consumption.

Nor is the relationship to problems straightfor- ward. Research has demonstrated that different licences are associated with different levels of harm, regardless of the amounts of alcohol sold.

2. The relat ionship o f consumpt ion to problems

While the position paper purports to cast doubt on a central tenet of the public health position, it notably omits to make any reference to the relationship between consumption and problems. Moreover, when quoting from the WHO-spon- sored study of alcohol experiences the position paper notably fails to acknowledge that the same

Alcohol Availability II 3

study concluded, in the sentence immediately following those quoted, that:

One of the basic findings of our study, however, is that the growth in alcohol consumption w.as accompanied by an increase in a broad Variety of problems related to drinking. When all the case studies are taken together, this holds true not only for consequences of prolonged drinking, but for social and health problems related to single drinking episodes. (p. lO9) [1]

If, as the Victorian experience would seem to suggest, consumption has declined over the period compared, the public health position would pre- dict that the incidence of alcohol-related problems would decrease similarly. No data is presented which bears on this point, despite the document's claim that by inference the analysis provided disproves this assertion.

If, as seems likely, the declining consumption of alcohol in Victoria has been associated with a decline in the incidence of alcohol-related prob- lems in Victoria, this association supports a central tenet of the public health position, rather than discredits it.

3. The relationship between consumption and income

While the information presented in the position paper does not allow an examination of the relationship between consumption and problems, it does provide evidence suggestive of the direct relationship between consumption and price. While the document does not provide any infor- mation regarding changes in average disposable income in Victoria over the relevant period, the fact that Australia has been in the midst of a recession during the relevant period, and that Victoria has been among the hardest-hit states, hardly needs further attestation. Nonetheless, it goes uncommented on in the position paper. In consequence, what the evidence presented in the position paper probably illustrates is that even during a period in which the number of individual outlets for the sale of alcohol is increased the effect of such on consumption is reversed if, at the same time, there is a significant decrease in people's disposable income.

That this is likely to have been the explanation of the decline in consumption in Victoria at a time

of increased availability is not acknowledged by the position paper; precisely because, one suspects, that to acknowledge it would lend confirmation to a central tenet of the public health position, i.e. that price is probably the principal determinant of consumption in a situation in which the availabil- ity of alcohol is already widespread.

Even allowing for the caveats mentioned above regarding the complex relationship between avail- ability and consumption, it could be expected that if availability has been significantly increased, as would appear to be the case in Victoria, a return to greater affluence will be attended by an increase in the consumption of alcohol and, therefore, of its attendant problems, except that other counter measures are adopted.

Conclusion

While the evidence presented in the position paper prepared by the Distilled Spirits Industry Council of Australia Inc illustrates the complex relation- ship between alcohol availability and its consump- tion, on no account does it discredit the position adopted by advocates of a public health approach to alcohol consumption. On the contrary, where it does not ignore the probable association of decreased consumption with decreased problems, it chooses to overlook the most obvious explana- tion of the decrease in Victoria's consumption of alcohol (i.e. the decline in average disposable income) and in doing so diverts attention away from what is a central tenet in the public health position (i.e. that a decline in Australia's per capita consumption of alcohol will most likely be effected by an increase in alcohol's real price).

Reference

[i] World Health Organization. Alcohol, society and the state: L A comparative study of alcohol control. A report of the international study of alcohol control experiences in collaboration with the WHO Regional Office for Europe. Toronto: Addiction Research Foundation, i98i.

DAVID HAWKS Director and Professor of Addiction Studies, National Centre for Research into the Prevention of Drug Abuse, Curtin University of Technology, GPO Box UI987, Perth, Westem Australia, Australia