CHIEF Minister Andrew Barr has expressed his joy at winning an Action on Alcohol award.
“Today I was delighted to be presented with an award from the National Alliance for Action on Alcohol (NAAA) for the ACT Government’s continued efforts to strengthen alcohol policy in the Territory,” Andrew said.
“For the second year in a row, the ACT topped the NAAA National Policy Scorecard for 2014 which ranks every State and Territory Government’s policy position towards alcohol, as well as the Federal Government’s policies.
“It’s reassuring that the ACT leads in the nation in this area by successfully implementing a multi-faceted, whole-of-government approach in the prevention and reduction of alcohol-related harm.”
The NAAA, however, did note that while our policies are most closely in alignment with theirs (48% being enough to beat out the rest of the country and win the award) our results leave a little to be desired.
“We congratulate the ACT Government for its continued efforts in alcohol policy. Unfortunately, despite these efforts, Canberrans continue to have the highest drinking prevalence rate in Australia,” said Carrie Fowlie, Executive Officer of the Alcohol Tobacco and Other Drug Association ACT (ATODA).
“Of all the drugs, alcohol causes the most harm in Canberra. There is a causal relationship between alcohol consumption and dependence, liver disease, cancer, cardiovascular disease, as well as injuries resulting from violence and road accidents.”
“Emergency Department presentations at The Canberra Hospital and Calvary Hospital for the toxic effects of alcohol, including acute alcohol intoxication, have increased by 34.7% and alcohol-attributable injuries increased by 23.7% over a three year period.”
[Photo by Quinn Dombrowski, attribution licence]
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