Alcohol policy changes during the first three-months of the COVID-19 pandemic: Development and application of a classification scheme

Sebastián Peña; Claire Wilkinson; Giovanni Aresi; Liz Barrett; Sadie Boniface; Niamh Fitzgerald; Pablo Norambuena; Catherine Paradis; Francisca Román; Paula Sierralta

doi:10.1016/j.drugpo.2024.104373

Alcohol policy changes during the first three-months of the COVID-19 pandemic: Development and application of a classification scheme

Int J Drug Policy. 2024 Mar 26:127:104373. doi: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2024.104373. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland; Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Diego Portales, Santiago, Chile. Electronic address: sebastian.penafajuri@thl.fi.
² University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.
³ CERISVICO Research Centre on Community Development and Organisational Quality of Life, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, Italy.
⁴ Institute of Alcohol Studies, London, United Kingdom; Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, United Kingdom.
⁵ Institute for Social Marketing & Health, University of Stirling, United Kingdom; SPECTRUM Consortium, United Kingdom.
⁶ Millennium Nucleus for the Evaluation and Analysis of Drug Policies (nDP), Chile; Escuela de Salud Pública, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile.
⁷ Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction, Ottawa, Canada.
⁸ Millennium Nucleus for the Evaluation and Analysis of Drug Policies (nDP), Chile; Universidad de La Frontera, Temuco, Chile.
⁹ Independent researcher, Santiago, Chile.

PMID: 38537492
DOI: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2024.104373

Abstract

Background: Policy changes in response to the COVID-19 pandemic have impacted on alcohol control. This study describes the development and application of a classification scheme to map alcohol policy changes during the first three-months of the COVID-19 pandemic in five countries and/or subnational jurisdictions.

Method: A pre-registered systematic review of policy decisions from March to May 2020, in Australia/New South Wales, Canada/Ontario, Chile, Italy and the United Kingdom. One author extracted the data for each jurisdiction using a country-specific search strategy of government documents. We coded policy changes using an adapted WHO classification scheme, whether the policy was expected to tighten or loosen alcohol control, have mainly immediate or delayed impact on consumption and harm and impact the general population versus specific populations. We present descriptive statistics of policy change.

Results: We developed a classification scheme with four levels. Existing policy options were insufficient to capture policy changes in alcohol availability, thus we added seventeen new sub-categories. We found 114 alcohol control policies introduced across the five jurisdictions, covering five (out of ten) WHO action areas. The majority aimed to change alcohol availability, by regulating the operation of alcohol outlets. All countries introduced closures to on-premise alcohol outlets and, except Chile, allowed off-sales via take away or home delivery. We also observed several pricing policies introducing subsidies to support the alcohol industry. Seventy-four percent of policy changes were expected to tighten alcohol control and 12.3 % to weaken control. Weakening policy changes were mostly related to retail mode switching or expansion (allowing take away or home delivery).

Conclusion: Alcohol control policies during the first three months of the COVID-19 pandemic were targeted primarily at alcohol availability and about one tenth might weaken alcohol control. Temporary changes to alcohol retail during the COVID-19 pandemic, if made permanent, could significantly expand alcohol availability.

Keywords: Alcohol policy; COVID-19; Classification; Legal epidemiology; Policy monitoring.