Alcohol Consumption in British Columbia and Canada: A Case for Liquor Taxes that Reduce Harm
Bulletin 3 - December 2007


Overview
• Alcohol consumption in Canada has increased by over 11% in the past decade.
• Per adult absolute alcohol consumption in British Columbia has increased from 8.18 litres in 2002 to 8.53 litres in 2005.
• Since 2002 the numbers of hospitalizations and neuro-psychiatric deaths attributable to alcohol in BC have increased by 11.7% and 18%, respectively.
• In 2005 there were an estimated 25,194 alcohol-related injuries and illnesses in BC requiring hospitalization compared with 4,817 related to illicit drug use.
• There is extensive scientific evidence to support the use of pricing and taxation strategies as effective means of reducing alcohol consumption and related harms.
• In British Columbia such strategies are readily achievable because the government alcohol monopoly directly controls liquor prices.
• 65% of the coolers now sold in BC contain 7% alcohol content and have an average price of $5.41 per litre, compared with $8.07 for coolers with a 5-5.9% alcohol content.
• We recommend that liquor prices more closely reflect alcohol content and that these are regularly updated with the cost of living.
• Beers and coolers with low alcohol content should have significantly lower price ‘mark-ups’ applied to give manufacturers, retailers and consumers incentives to produce, market and consume these products.
• Minimum prices also need to be set and updated regularly to ensure there are no cheap high strength products available.
• We also recommend that a “nickel a drink” tax be introduced to generate $95.7 million per annum for treatment and prevention programs.

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