The World Health Organization (WHO) has been quietly circulating a document that calls for some of the harshest alcohol policies we’ve ever seen. The Guardian reports:
Minimum price controls should be imposed on alcohol and tougher drink-driving laws introduced, policy options circulated by the World Health Organisation (WHO) suggest…
The draft recommendations – so far not widely distributed – have been released in the run up to a formal decision by member states next year.
… On drink-driving limits, the WHO suggests that the limit on drink driving should be 50mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood, equivalent to a concentration level of 0.05%.
Higher drink prices and an even lower legal limit? That’s something even MADD hasn’t openly called for (yet). One reason they’re probably mum is because lowering it from .1% to .08% had little – if any – effect on our safety.
The fact is that the average drunk driver involved in a fatal crash drives at about .19 BAC– more than double the legal limit. Lowering the limit to .05 won’t keep us any safer on the roads, but it will make responsible drinkers sweat over having even a single drink before driving home. (Oh, and we know that raising drink prices will not prevent alcohol abuse.)
The WHO’s campaign is one of neoprohibition – seeking to use a “public health” facade as an excuse to put a stop to responsible alcohol consumption. Raising drink prices and lowering the legal limit will serve to deter consumption – to make you second guess that first glass of wine or beer with dinner.
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