The Impact of Unrecorded Alcohol Use on Health: What Do We Know in 2020?

CONCLUSIONS: Policy options include restricting access to methanol, increasing taxation, denaturing ethanol-containing liquids that could be used as surrogates, introducing more effective and less toxic denaturizing additives, and improving monitoring systems for fraud, tax evasion, and local sales restrictions, including raising the minimum legal drinking age. These measures should be implemented within a holistic policy framework to avoid unintended effects, such as an increase in total alcohol consumption, shifts from certain types of unrecorded products to potentially toxic alternatives, or limiting economic activity and jeopardizing the livelihoods of vulnerable populations (e.g., women comprise the majority of those making homebrew in some countries). PMID: 33573720 [PubMed - in process]
Source: Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs - Category: Addiction Tags: J Stud Alcohol Drugs Source Type: research