scholarly journals Kettil Bruun is more relevant than ever

2021 ◽  
pp. 145507252110573
Author(s):  
Matilda Hellman
Keyword(s):  
Control Policy ◽  
General Level ◽  
Research Strategies ◽  
Public Health Perspective ◽  
Total Consumption ◽  
Collective Work ◽  
Drug Policies ◽  
Consumption Model ◽  
Distribution Of Power ◽  
Total Consumption Model

Kettil Bruun is best known for the total consumption model introduced in 1975 in the collective work “Alcohol control policy in public health perspective”. There were three tracks in particular that led Bruun's research towards the total consumption model: research on the distribution of power, research on international drug policies, and his contributions to criminology and social policy. Kettil Bruun’s lifework shows that the innovation, intersectionality, and synergy which are now rehearsed in pompous research strategies were a non-question 40 years ago. These aspects were a natural part of the scientific pursuit of answers. Maybe in a much more modest and homemade form, but all the more import in terms of applicability at the general level of principle.

The total volume of gambling and the prevalence of gambling problems

2018 ◽  
pp. 71-86
Author(s):  
Pekka Sulkunen ◽  
Thomas F. Babor ◽  
Jenny Cisneros Örnberg ◽  
Michael Egerer ◽  
Matilda Hellman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Large Fraction ◽  
Low Risk ◽  
Gambling Problems ◽  
Adaptation Theory ◽  
Total Consumption ◽  
Excessive Gambling ◽  
Consumption Model ◽  
Total Consumption Model ◽  
Gambling Activities ◽  
Gambling Expenditures

The total consumption model (TCM) implies that only a small fraction of gamblers account for a very large fraction of all gambling activities and of all gambling expenditures. This does not necessarily mean that every gambler with high gambling expenses has problems, but the probability increases with increasing intensity. Ironically, heavy gamblers are influenced by the activities of those who participate only moderately: the more people take up gambling, the more likely vulnerable individuals will be recruited as well. The importance of total volume of gambling in society is reinforced by the fact that the accumulated harm caused by low-risk gamblers in fact exceeds the harm caused by excessive gambling. Although adaptation theory suggests that harmful consequences recede once the novelty of innovation subsides, every increase in consumption increases the risk of harm.

scholarly journals The controversial discourse on beer in Iceland

2012 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hildigunnur Ólafsdóttir
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
The State ◽  
Alcohol Policy ◽  
Medical Doctors ◽  
Total Consumption ◽  
Consumption Model ◽  
Total Consumption Model ◽  
Newspaper Articles

Aims This study investigates the motives and discourses around the decision taken by the Icelandic parliament in 1989 to legalise beer sales after a prohibition of 74 years. A bill was passed in 1988 that allowed the selling of beer in licensed restaurants and the state alcohol monopoly stores. Design The sources used for this study are mainly newspaper articles and other materials and reports published in the period 1980 to 1989. Results The passing of the bill was preceded by many controversial discourses in Iceland. Lobbying groups with commercial interests campaigned for the legalisation of beer, while representatives of the alcoholism movement took no formal stance on the issue, parliamentarians broke from party lines and medical doctors were split into two factions. Common questions included the plausibility of the total consumption model, various understandings of WHO recommendations, diverging interpretations of other countries’ experiences of beer, and different views on how beer would affect individuals suffering from alcoholism. Conclusions The changes in Icelandic alcohol policy to legalise beer were in keeping with contemporary societal processes of globalisation and modernisation, but public health arguments were given less priority. While the decision to legalise beer increased the commercial functions of the state alcohol monopoly, it also strengthened the monopoly's role as an actor in alcohol policy.

scholarly journals The total consumption model applied to gambling: Empirical validity and implications for gambling policy

2018 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 66-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ingeborg Rossow
Keyword(s):  
Problem Gambling ◽  
Policy Implication ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Public Health Issue ◽  
Gambling Behaviour ◽  
Total Consumption ◽  
Empirical Validity ◽  
Consumption Model ◽  
Total Consumption Model

Aim: The total consumption model (TCM) originates from studies of the distribution of alcohol consumption and posits that there is a strong association between the total consumption and the prevalence of excessive/harmful consumption in a population. The policy implication of the TCM is that policy measures which effectively lead to a reduction of the total consumption, will most likely also reduce the extent of harmful consumption and related harms. Problem gambling constitutes a public health issue and more insight into problem gambling at the societal level and a better understanding of how public policies may impact on the harm level, are strongly needed. The aim of this study was to review the literature pertaining to empirical validity of the TCM with regard to gambling behaviour and problem gambling and, on the basis of the literature review, to discuss the policy implications of the TCM. Methods: The study is based on a literature mapping through systematic searches in literature databases, and forward and backward reference searches. Results: The literature searches identified a total of 12 empirical studies that examined the total consumption model or provided relevant data. All but one of these studies found empirical support for the TCM; that is, a positive association between population gambling mean and prevalence of excessive or problem gambling. Such associations were found both with cross-sectional data and with longitudinal data. Conclusion: There is a small but fairly consistent literature lending empirical support to the total consumption model. An important policy implication is that interventions which are successful in reducing overall gambling are likely also to reduce problem gambling incidence.

scholarly journals In fear of a reversal back to the spirits-drinking era — the 2004 decrease of Finnish alcohol taxes in public discourse

2012 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matilda Hellman ◽  
Thomas Karlsson
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Alcohol Policy ◽  
Alcoholic Beverages ◽  
Health Concern ◽  
Drinking Patterns ◽  
Policy Debate ◽  
Public Health Perspective ◽  
Total Consumption

Aims The study investigates how the dissimilar tax reductions for different alcoholic beverages (spirits, wine and beer) were debated during the large tax decrease on alcoholic beverages in Finland in 2004. Design and Data The material comprises parliamentary proceedings and discussions, as well as daily press items (=105) from 2003–2004. Content analyses, both quantitative and qualitative, were performed. Results The parliament's discussion on the unequal treatment of different beverage types concerned mostly the overall framing of a public health perspective, differencing between consumption of “spirits” and “non-spirits”. The mass media framed the question mostly from the industry's point of view. Neither a clear support of the total consumption model (excluding specification of beverage sort), nor a strong liberalisation model for alcohol policy were expressed in the materials. Varying stances were merely motivated within a paradigm of “changing drinking patterns”. Conclusions The differing treatment of different beverage types, especially the large reductions in spirits taxes, was crystallised as the fundamental public health concern surrounding the decision to lower alcohol taxes. In the end of the article the authors ask whether the lack of clear stances other than the drinking pattern framing could imply that the Finnish alcohol policy debate has become more heterogeneous, neutralised or resigned in its basic nature.

scholarly journals Decolonizing drug policy

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Colleen Daniels ◽  
Aggrey Aluso ◽  
Naomi Burke-Shyne ◽  
Kojo Koram ◽  
Suchitra Rajagopalan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Drug Policy ◽  
Current System ◽  
Control Policy ◽  
Mass Incarceration ◽  
Drug Control ◽  
People Who Use Drugs ◽  
Power Structures ◽  
Drug Law ◽  
Drug Law Enforcement ◽  
Drug Policies

AbstractThis paper reviews evidence of how drug control has been used to uphold colonial power structures in select countries. It demonstrates the racist and xenophobic impact of drug control policy and proposes a path to move beyond oppressive systems and structures. The ‘colonization of drug control’ refers to the use of drug control by states in Europe and America to advance and sustain the systematic exploitation of people, land and resources and the racialized hierarchies, which were established under colonial control and continue to dominate today. Globally, Black, Brown and Indigenous peoples are disproportionately targeted for drug law enforcement and face discrimination across the criminal system. These communities face higher arrest, prosecution and incarceration rates for drug offenses than other communities, such as majority populations, despite similar rates of drug use and selling among (and between) different races. Current drug policies have contributed to an increase in drug-related deaths, overdoses and sustained transnational criminal enterprises at the expense of the lives of people who use drugs, their families and greater society. This review provides further evidence of the need to reform the current system. It outlines a three-pillared approach to rebuilding drug policy in a way that supports health, dignity and human rights, consisting of: (1) the decriminalization of drugs and their use; (2) an end to the mass incarceration of people who use drugs; (3) the redirection of funding away from ineffective and punitive drug control and toward health and social programs.

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