Alcohol-related harms are often experienced at a local level, directly affecting communities, roadways and neighbourhoods. Local alcohol policies can be an important and effective way to promote moderate alcohol consumption, support community values, raise awareness of harms, influence community social norms and promote healthier communities (Government of British Columbia, 2012). Babor et al. (2010) describe alcohol policy as purposeful efforts or decisions to minimize and/or prevent alcohol-related harms. Policies can include implementing specific strategies, supporting priorities or allocating resources based on need (Babor et al., 2010). Further, local alcohol policy is most effective when it is aligned with provincial and national alcohol strategies and guided by provincial legislation.
The purpose of this resource is to
› support the development and implementation of local alcohol policies within communities across Ontario.
This resource is produced by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) Health Promotion Resource Centre and Public Health Ontario (PHO). It is designed for Healthy Communities Partnerships and other public health stakeholders in Ontario, particularly those new to the field of alcohol policy.
This resource includes three tools. The tools are supported by information on the Ontario context including key facts about the burden of alcohol and the current public health landscape. The tools include:
1. Alcohol Policy Approaches Table. This tool includes dozens of local policy action examples mapped to the seven internationally recommended policy approaches (Babor et al., 2010) and strategies that can be used to address them (Giesbrecht et al., 2011). These are displayed in a user-friendly table found on pages 10-11.
2. Local Action Tables. The second tool is displayed in seven tables, one for each of the internationally recommended policy approaches. This tool maps each of the local policy actions from the first tool against the areas of action recommended by the National Alcohol Strategy (National Alcohol Strategy Working Group, 2007), the Ontario Public Health Standards(2008), and who might lead the effort to implement the local action. These tables are on pages 13-20.
3. Resource Inventory. This annotated collection of journal articles, reports, toolkits and guides shows places to get further information about taking policy action to reduce alcohol-related harms. The inventory can be found on pages 21-37.
Read Full Report (PDF)
2. Local Action Tables. The second tool is displayed in seven tables, one for each of the internationally recommended policy approaches. This tool maps each of the local policy actions from the first tool against the areas of action recommended by the National Alcohol Strategy (National Alcohol Strategy Working Group, 2007), the Ontario Public Health Standards(2008), and who might lead the effort to implement the local action. These tables are on pages 13-20.
3. Resource Inventory. This annotated collection of journal articles, reports, toolkits and guides shows places to get further information about taking policy action to reduce alcohol-related harms. The inventory can be found on pages 21-37.
Read Full Report (PDF)
