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Alcohol sales cause concern

Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows Australia’s alcohol retailers turned over a record $15.6 billion in sales in 2020, providing evidence of changes in alcohol use and associated consequences during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The turnover represents an increase of 26.7 per cent or $3.3 billion more than in 2019.

We at WRAD are concerned for a range of possible negative physical health associations. Excessive alcohol use may lead to and/or worsen existing mental health problems, such as anxiety or depression, which may themselves be increasing during COVID-19.

Whilst alcohol is a legal commodity with known rates of sales etc, we suspect changes in trends of use of other substances as well.

We need to identify who is responsible for greatest growth; men, women, younger people or distinct groups. The government will then need to look at supporting development of marketing strategies and education approaches to highlight these concerns and to educate consumers about increased alcohol use during the pandemic and to identify factors associated with susceptibility and resilience to the impacts of COVID-19.

Broad data like this does not absolutely equate to increased use as we have seen with toilet paper sell outs. Some people are stockpiling but the reality is for people who struggle with issues of addiction, availability can often lead to an over-consumption so we warn against stockpiling.

WRAD asks all people who are anxious over the thought of not being able to access an alcoholic beverage to do a self-check on their relationship with alcohol as it may be more of an issue than they realised.

There is a thing called plausible deniability and so some people don’t see themselves as problematic drinkers because they can still work or still have a home or some other comparison to what they perceive as a “problem drinker”. We have national guidelines around safe consumption of alcohol and you should check yourself against that. There are numerous online “check your drinking” questionnaires that can inform you of where you sit on the scale of problematic drinking. If you find you score in a harmful range then please call WRAD 55 645777 to further discuss the role alcohol plays in your life. We have a range of services here to help people overcome problems with substance use.

You can also visit the self-assessment tool https://eassist.assistportal.com.au/#/e-assist

which screens for a range of substances, not just alcohol.