The Great Debate UK

When is the cost of drinking alcohol too high?

- John A. Cunningham is Canada research chair in brief interventions for addictive behaviours, a senior scientist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and a professor at the University of Toronto. The opinions expressed are his own. -

Whether you live in Britain, Canada, the U.S. or one of many other countries around the world, alcohol consumption is one of the leading causes of preventable death.

When people think about alcohol problems, the image of someone with severe drinking problems usually comes to mind.

However, one of the interesting facts about alcohol is that people with less severe drinking problems cause most alcohol-related problems in society.

This is because there are a lot of people with moderate drinking problems while those with severe alcohol dependence are relatively rare. Problem drinking comes in many shapes and sizes – from someone who misses work because of hangovers, gets into a fight while drunk, drinks before driving, or simply drinks too much year after year and causes long term health concerns.

One of the issues that troubles me about providing help for people who have problems with alcohol is that most do not get treatment, including Alcoholics Anonymous.

That is why I devised online screener www.CheckYourDrinking.net. The Check Your Drinking screener is a free, anonymous tool which anyone can use. Simply go online, answer some questions about drinking and a bit about who you are and get a personalized feedback report.