France is denial about the dangers of alcoholism and alcohol abuse, linked to one in 10 deaths in the country, according to a government-commissioned report issued on Thursday.
Two million French people are dependent on alcohol, and women and young adults are taking an increased share of the population of alcohol abusers, the report ”Alcoholism: Straight Talk, Simple Talk” said.
”We have to admit the commitment of the political class and at the highest level has been lacking,” wrote the nine-member panel in the 114-page report provided to Health Minister Xavier Bertrand.
France is the world’s top wine producer, but consumption has almost halved in the last four decades to around 55 litres per person per year, according to wine trade body Onivins.
Alcohol directly kills 23 000 people in France each year — and one death in 10 in France is ”directly linked” to its use, said the report, culled from scores of hours of questioning of experts and politicians.
”In France, alcohol is idealised. But alcohol consumption has another side: the damage it causes when it becomes a drug, because it is a drug,” said Herve Chabalier, a reformed alcoholic and author of The Last One for the Road: Chronicle of a Divorce from Alcohol, who was commissioned by former Health Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy to head the panel.
Doctors should be better trained to detect excess drinking in patients, said the report, which lays the groundwork for a national conference on alcohol abuse scheduled to take place in 2006.
It said former alcoholics could help create support networks capable of rapidly helping those that want to beat their addiction.
Experts say there is a shortage of hospital beds for alcoholics, who must wait several months to enter rehabilitation programmes, reducing their chances of staying sober.
Chabalier also called for a strict application of the law banning sales of alcohol to under-16s, noting that teenage drinking is on the rise.
”We are a country of vineyards, things are not going to change from one day to the next,” he said. – Sapa-AP