Alcohol‐Control Policies in Latin America and Other Countries

Alcohol-control policies reflect the concepts and philosophy behind governments’ efforts to limit the availability of alcoholic beverages to the population. From a health and safety perspective, limits on availability are now designed to control such alcohol problems as alcoholism, alcohol-related violence, traffic accidents, lowered productivity, and family disorganization. In earlier eras controls on alcohol were imposed on religious grounds to limit possibilities for fun or immorality, but they now have a different purpose-to contribute to public health. Much empirical research has demonstrated that alcohol controls do have an effect on both drinking and drinking problems (see Popham et al., 1975, and Smart, 1982, for reviews). Debates about alcohol-control policies have been numerous in many North American and European countries in the past ten years. For example, proposals to limit the advertising of alcohol have been discussed by legislatures in Canada, the United States, and England, and actual bans on such advertising have been introduced in New Zealand, Poland, Finland, Sweden, and parts of Canada. Age limits for drinking have been raised in all Canadian provinces and in half of the states in the United States. Limited prohibition has been introduced into Northern areas of Canada and Poland. However, such debates are uncommon in Latin American countries. For example, a document prepared for the World Health Organization’s technical discussions on alcohol-related problems showed that alcohol policies are not an important area of interest for most Latin American countries. Empirical studies of how alcohol controls actually work in these countries are almost impossible to find. In addition there appear to be few national or local policies about alcohol controls and those that do exist are often ignored. The main purpose of this paper is to consider the issue of alcohol controls and policies in Latin America in relation to the extent of drinking there. A secondary purpose is to describe the types of research and policy initiatives relevant to alcohol controls which should be started. Information for this paper is drawn from a knowledge of research on alcohol problems and controls in Latin America and elsewhere, as well as recent World Health Organization (WHO) documents. It also contains experiences and observations drawn by the first author from his visits to most Latin American countries over the past 20 years for studies related to alcohol problems. In addition, the second author has lived in Mexico for many years and has close contacts with many alcohol researchers in other countries. To some extent this presentation depends upon personal experiences of life in Latin America which, although extensive, may not be unbiased or complete.