알코올정책의 개념과 효과성

The Concept and Effectiveness of Alcohol Policy

This article describes the concept and efficacy of alcohol po-licy, including a brief historical review of interventions for alcohol-related problems, the basic concept of alcohol-related problems, interventions from a public health perspective, comprehensive prevention, community systems, frameworks, and practical prevention strategies in terms of evidence for their effectiveness, research support amounts, implementation costs, and other feasibility issues. Alcohol-related problems cannot be solved only by treatment models. More comprehensive preventions and interventions are needed, because evidence shows such problems have complicated and diverse characteristics. The prevailing view-point on alcohol-related problems has changed, from its being a sin, in the past, to being a disease, in the 70’s, and, recently, to being a biopsychosocial concept. Prevention frameworks require intervention strategies, establishing the severity of patients’ problems, establishing a concrete target group, and a range of target. Overall, the interventions with the greatest amount of empirical support are (1) low legal limits on blood alcohol concentration levels for driving while intoxicated, (2) controls on alcohol availability, (3) age limits on alcohol purchases, and (4) relatively high alcohol prices. Policy efforts in the developing countries should focus on improving countermeasures against driving while intoxicated, measures that alter the drinking context, and limits on alcohol’s physical availability. For developed countries, the goal should be to prevent any backsliding with regard to current drinking patterns and to reduce the overall volume of alcohol consumed. Many evidence-based policies clearly seem to have the potential for communities to substantially reduce their alcohol-related problems.