Grant: Operating Grant

Canada is one of few countries where minimum prices of alcoholic drinks are regulated by government, ostensibly to limit negative health and safety consequences of drinking. While it is well-documented that alcohol use and related problems are each strongly influenced by price, that high-risk drinkers often select the cheapest alcohol, the effectiveness of minimum pricing policies for reducing alcohol related harms remains untested. This is despite growing international interest in this public health measure and its widespread use in Canada. An international team of investigators from Canada, USA and UK will examine the effectiveness of minimum pricing regulations currently in place in British Columbia, Ontario, Alberta and Nova Scotia and appraise selected options for future modifications. A recently developed UK model which predicts the health and societal impact of minimum pricing on different population groups (e.g. young adults, heavy drinkers, teenagers) will be adapted to the Canadian context, and applied in this project as a tool for alcohol policy appraisal in Canada. The model will be refined so that it can predict the costs and benefits of minimum pricing as a public health measure in policy decision making in other jurisdictions. The basic approach will both draw upon and add to experience with modifying other risk factors for poor health, such as transfats, tobacco use and excessive salt intake with the use of price incentives.