NUPGE: Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD Canada) has adopted a national policy paper strongly supporting the sale of alcohol through provincial liquor boards instead of private retailers.
"MADD Canada strongly supports the provincial liquor board model which protects the public interest and meets consumer needs through safe and responsible alcohol sales," the paper says.
"Alcohol is not an ordinary commodity and should not be sold as one. It is linked with more than 65 medical conditions and is a contributing factor in injuries, impairments and deaths caused by illness, impaired driving, homicides, suicides, falls, drowning, assaults, fires and other adverse events that threaten public safety and community well-being," MADD concludes.
"According to the National Alcohol Strategy, alcohol resulted in the deaths of an estimated 4,258 Canadians in 2002 and cost society $14.6 billion in lost productivity and health care and law enforcements costs," it adds.
"It is not, nor has it ever been, MADD Canada’s goal to prohibit the legal, responsible consumption of alcohol. The fact is, however, that when alcohol is over-consumed, it imposes tremendous costs on not only the drinkers but also the people and communities around them.
"We believe that replacing the provincial liquor board system with a privatized system of retail alcohol sales will increase alcohol-related problems and carry substantial human, social and economic costs."