REDUCING THE DAMAGE FROM ALCOHOL IN POPULATIONS: ARE CURRENT POPULAR INTERVENTIONS OF SUFFICIENT POTENCY AND SCOPE?
Addiction 102 (9), 1354–1355.

In the complex world of alcohol problem management, it is nevertheless appropriate to ask if the best prevention strategies and alcohol policies are of high priority. Are the interventions offered of sufficient potency and scope for the problem? If not, what might be done to change things for the better? My interpretation is that all three commentaries imply that these questions are worth considering, and they draw out important nuances that are useful in addressing them.

In general, the current responses to alcohol problems in many jurisdictions are skewed towards those with modest or minimal impact. In many contexts alcohol education and information is the default response, and it typically involves considerable advocacy, coordination and political courage to introduce and implement the more potent interventions. While it may be very difficult to demonstrate that many forms of conventional alcohol education oriented to the consumer are absolutely ineffective, it would seem that, on balance, they are substantially and consistently less effective than a number of policy measures focusing on alcohol control, access to alcohol, strategies to reduce drinking and driving and brief interventions
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