Alcohol Issues

About Alcohol Issues

Weekly conversation brought to you by Movendi International about the latest alcohol issues in policy and science and new alcohol industry revelations. Every episode, we are also bringing you an in-depth conversation about alcohol issues of global importance.

Publisher

Movendi International

Category

news

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

5 Sept 2020

Latest episode

23 Apr 2025

Latest episodes

46 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   23 Apr 2025

   Landmark Study Gives Canadian Government Failing Grades In Alcohol Policies

   Landmark Study Gives Canadian Government Failing Grades In Alcohol Policies The topic of today’s episode is the CAPE – the Canadian Alcohol Policy Evaluation. The CAPE is a world class scientific approach to assessing how Canada’s national and provincial governments are doing in alcohol policy making. The robust, regular, comprehensive evaluation combined with the infrastructure around it and public relations work linked to it make for an inspiring model for countries around the world. To discuss all this in depth, Elizabeth Farkouh joins today’s show. She is the lead author of the study published in May 2024 about their assessment of federal alcohol policies in Canada and priority recommendations. Elizabeth and host Maik Dünnbier had a great conversation with many insights from her different experiences and with many lessons for alcohol policy not just for Canada but worldwide. Highlights of the show In today’s show, Maik speaks with Elizabeth about the heavy alcohol burden in Canada and the country’s policy response. She shares mind blowing – in the concerning kind of way – facts about the magnitude of alcohol harm. In the face of  this massive alcohol burden, the CAPE’s results and grades for the Canadian government are truly shocking. Elizabeth explains the grades and in the conversation, Maik and Elizabeth dive into the details of key policy recommendations, focusing on the alcohol policy best buys. They also talk about comparability of the CAPE to other countries and the potential of applying this type of alcohol policy evaluation in other countries. And they explore how the scientific exercise of assessing policy implementation – or complete lack thereof – can be linked to advocacy and community action for change. Elizabeth shares an inspiring best practice from Canada’s experience. Our guest Elizabeth Farkouh is a research assistant at the Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research. She has conducted international work related to alcohol use including a review on the effect of alcohol policies on suicide, an educational curriculum on alcohol and cancer for middle school students, and the Canadian Alcohol Policy Evaluation project. Follow Elizabeth's work on LinkedIn. Resources for the episode Science Digest: "Canadian Government Receives Failing Grade for Lack of Evidence-Based Alcohol Policies" The Canadian Alcohol Policy Evaluation (CAPE) New Study: Alcohol Policies to Prevent NCDs Generate Positive Societal Impacts Immediately WHO Report: Alcohol Best Buys With Second Highest Return on Investment Feedback Your feedback, questions, and suggestions for future topics and guests is most welcome. Please get in touch at: maik.duennbier@movendi.ngo. You are most welcome to follow Movendi International and Maik Dünnbier on LinkedIn, too. About The Alcohol Issues Podcast The Alcohol Issues Podcast is an original production from Movendi International. It’s a show about latest alcohol policy developments, brand new research, and stories that reveal the predatory practices of the alcohol industry. We bring you in-depth conversations with trail-blazing alcohol policy makers, visionary community activists, and leading scientists. We do it all to reshape how the world thinks about alcohol’s impact on society and the benefits of alcohol policy action.

2. 

   13 Mar 2025

   When Less Is More: Health And Social Benefits From Reduced Alcohol Consumption

   When Less Is More: Health And Social Benefits From Reduced Alcohol Consumption In today’s show we’re discussing a brand new report that compiles world class evidence about what happens when alcohol consumption goes down. Together with Dr Tim Stockwell, we bring you an in-depth view of the science behind the benefits of declining alcohol consumption – on the individual and societal levels. The report called “When less is more. The health and social benefits from reduced alcohol consumption” is part of the awesome report series “Alcohol and Society”. You can find all other reports on the website and I’ll put more information in the show notes. We recorded this conversation on March 6, 2025. Highlights of the show In today’s show, Tim and host Maik Dünnbier discuss why the researchers group of the Alcohol an Society report series decided to flip the perspective from looking into the harms caused by alcohol to examining the benefits of reduced alcohol consumption. The new report covers individual and societal dimensions of the benefits of reduced alcohol consumption. Maik and Tim talk about both the individual level and the societal picture to understand what happens when people and populations reduce alcohol consumption. Tim shares which findings he thinks people should absolutely know about regarding the personal benefits from reduced alcohol use. As the report shows, discussing the evidence of the positive consequences for people and societies when alcohol consumption falls is not common. Therefore, flipping the perspective from focusing on harms to focusing on what the science says about the good things that happen when alcohol consumption declines is fascinating. Tim also shares research insights on what governments can do to achieve these benefits. Our guest Our guest for today’s conversation is Dr Tim Stockwell. He’s been on the show before. Tim held the position of director of the Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research, at the University of Victoria since its inception in 2004 until 2020. He has also been a professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Victoria since 2004. He has published over 400 research papers, book chapters and monographs, plus several books on prevention and treatment issues. The research reports in the Alcohol and Society series are produced by an international group of medical and public health researchers from Canada, Australia, the United States, and Sweden. This group convenes each year without compensation to produce a report about a unique topic concerning alcohol. With the latest report, the series comprises now 11 landmark scientific investigations. The reports have the goal to evaluate the most relevant published scientific research from around the world and to provide a summary of the best knowledge on a highly relevant topics, such as the harm from low-dose alcohol use, or the link between alcohol and blood pressure, or alcohol’s second-hand harms. Resources for the episode The Know Alcohol website Study by Robin Room and colleagues: Long waves of consumption or a unique social generation? Exploring recent declines in youth alcohol use Alcohol policy success in Lithuania: Understanding Lithuania’s Alcohol Policy Success Alcohol policy success in Scotland: Alcohol Minimum Unit Pricing in Scotland Is Linked with 13% Fall in Alcohol Deaths Feedback Your feedback, questions, and suggestions for future topics and guests is most welcome. Please get in touch at: maik.duennbier@movendi.ngo. You are most welcome to follow Movendi International and Maik Dünnbier on LinkedIn, too. About The Alcohol Issues Podcast The Alcohol Issues Podcast is an original production from Movendi International. It’s a show about latest alcohol policy developments, brand new research, and stories that reveal the predatory practices of the alcohol industry. We bring you in-depth conversations with trail-blazing alcohol policy makers, visionary community activists, an

3. 

   3 Mar 2025

   Nordic Alcohol Monopolies As Comprehensive Model For Preventing Alcohol Harm

   Nordic Alcohol Monopolies As Comprehensive Model For Preventing Alcohol Harm With this episode of the Alcohol Issues Podcast we bring you a special discussion of a special alcohol policy topic: how the Nordic alcohol retail monopolies work and why they are so successful. This is a special discussion because for the longest time, there was a gap between the public health success of the Nordic alcohol retail monopolies and public attention to that success. But this is changing and with this episode we’re discussing a brand new report that compiles latest evidence about nordic alcohol monopolies as comprehensive model for preventing alcohol harm. We bring you an inside view of the working and effects of the nordic alcohol retail monopolies together with an esteemed guest: Maria Renström. We recorded this conversation on February 10, 2025. Highlights of the show In today’s show, Maria and host Maik Dünnbier discuss some highlights of her career and how this informs her current work in Sweden and for WHO. They dive deep into the new WHO Europe report "Nordic alcohol monopolies: understanding their role in a comprehensive alcohol policy structure and public health significance", why it is relevant now, what the report finds, and what its recommendations are. Maria explains how the Nordic alcohol retail monopolies work, their key features, and how they are different from private, profit-driven models of alcohol retail. Maria and Maik also talk about the public support and look into the future. Our guest Maria Renström is one of the lead authors of WHO Europe’s new report on the Nordic alcohol monopolies. In her illustrious career, with a background in socialogy, Maria has worked at all levels of government: city of Stockholm, ministry of health and social affiars in Sweden, European Commission, World Health Organization, where she has had different roles and responsibilities over the years. She has been one of the decisive leaders for the adoption of the WHO Global Alcohol Strategy in 2010, the EU Alcohol Strategy in 2006, and the commitment for Sweden to maintain its alcohol retail monopoly when joining the EU 30 years ago. Resources for the episode WHO/Europe highlights Nordic alcohol monopolies as a comprehensive model for alcohol harm prevention, Nordic alcohol monopolies: understanding their role in a comprehensive alcohol policy structure and public health significance (PDF), UN News: Nordic alcohol monopolies are reducing alcohol consumption, and Reducing alcohol consumption, the Nordic way: alcohol monopolies, marketing bans and higher taxation. Feedback Your feedback, questions, and suggestions for future topics and guests is most welcome. Please get in touch at: maik.duennbier@movendi.ngo. You are most welcome to follow Movendi International and Maik Dünnbier on LinkedIn, too. About The Alcohol Issues Podcast The Alcohol Issues Podcast is an original production from Movendi International. It’s a show about latest alcohol policy developments, brand new research, and stories that reveal the predatory practices of the alcohol industry. We bring you in-depth conversations with trail-blazing alcohol policy makers, visionary community activists, and leading scientists. We do it all to reshape how the world thinks about alcohol’s impact on society and the benefits of alcohol policy action.

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Spotify

5.0 / 5

2 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 28 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

25

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

76

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