Science behind alcohol policy: The why, the what, and the how

As the science needs the field, the field needs the science. Three members of the board of directors of the newly-formed US Alcohol Policy Alliance will draw participants’ attention to the critical need of using the foundational science in alcohol policy to discover the why, what, and how of making important community change for increased public health and safety.

In order to encourage professionals in the field to focus our community work on the science first and foremost, this session will (1) provide a concrete look at the science behind alcohol policy work and why it matters that our focus remain steady, (2) describe a number of issues identified in the science as most effective, and (3) offer actionable strategies for communities to embrace to create population-level change.

With decades of organizing and advocacy experience among them, the presenters will use the CDC’s Community Preventative Services Task Force’s Preventing Excessive Alcohol Consumption, the WHO’s Global Strategy to Reduce the Harmful Use of Alcohol, Alcohol: No Ordinary Commodity, the Institute of Medicine’s Reducing Underage Drinking: A Collective Responsibility, and the US Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Reduce and Prevent Underage Drinking as the underpinning scientific structure to guide both the discussion and the focus needed by communities attempting to make positive changes around alcohol.