They ask the executive to act urgently. In a letter addressed to the Minister of Health Aurélien Rousseau and published by The ParisianMinister of Health, 48 addictologists ask the government to support the alcohol-free month, known worldwide as “Dry January”.
These professionals judge that “confidence in the government to pursue a coherent and resolute policy” against alcoholism is almost broken. “The restoration of this confidence can only happen through strong gestures, both in terms of content and symbolic significance,” they believe.
“Alcohol causes 41,000 deaths per year, but in France, prevention is almost zero. Something is wrong,” recalls in his letter Professor Olivier Cottencin, president of the national university college of addictology teachers at the origin of this letter.
The ministry wants to commit to “a general policy against alcohol”
The benefits of the alcohol-free month are “attested in countries which have been practicing similar campaigns for many years, particularly in the United Kingdom” analyze the signatories, who specify that support for this initiative by Public Health France has been suspended.
“However, since 2020 the takeover by an inter-association collective has met with public opinion, as polls regularly confirm. It is consensual and it would be more than a shame if the Ministry of Health and Prevention, and its agency in this field, continued to stay away from it,” the experts conclude. Contacted by The Parisianthe Ministry of Health responds that “Aurélien Rousseau, determined, wants to commit to a general policy against alcohol”.