European drinking

~ Jason Schwartz

I frequently hear the suggestion that Americans could reduce alcohol related problems by adopting European attitudes toward alcohol.

Unfortunately, it just isn’t so:

Liver disease is the main health burden attributable to alcohol and Europe has the highest rate of alcohol consumption in the world (11 litres of pure alcohol per adult per year). One in fifteen adults suffers from serious health conditions because of alcohol consumption – making it the third largest cause of early death and illness after tobacco and high blood pressure. One in seven European adults (aged 15 or over) consume more than 35cl of alcohol/week (men) or 18cl of alcohol/week (women) on average and over one in five report a heavy drinking episode (44cl of alcohol/week) at least once a week.

Published by Jason Schwartz

I have been an addiction professional and social worker since 1994. I started blogging in 2005 as the Clinical Director at Dawn Farm. I no longer work at Dawn Farm and am now the Director of Behavioral Medicine at a community hospital, and a lecturer at Eastern Michigan University’s School of Social Work. Views expressed here are my own. Keep in mind that the field, the contexts in which the field operates, and my views have changed over time.