PETERS – If alcohol is as unhealthy as tobacco, it should be taxed like tobacco
(Image: CFJC Today)
THE CANADIAN CENTRE for substance use and addiction didn’t make a lot of friends this week.
Sure, it’s all well and good when the lab coats go after heroin or fentanyl – but leave our booze alone, say Canadians.
The centre says even moderate alcohol use is linked to very serious health outcomes including cancer and heart disease.
Health Canada is now recommending no more than two alcoholic beverages per week. Ideally, they say people should cut alcohol all together.
Recommending complete abstinence actually makes a lot more sense than some kind of limit.
If something’s bad for you, why would scientists and health professionals recommend you partake in only a little bit of it?
Mel Rothenburger is a former mayor of Kamloops, former TNRD director and a retired newspaper editor. He is a regular contributor to CFJC Today, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a recipient of the Jack Webster Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.
ArmchairMayor.ca 
Like very many other substances there is a relative fine line between therapeutic dosage and outright health danger. Perhaps go easy on taxes but somehow charge for the burden on the health care system?