H. Orri Stefánsson: "How many lives can be sacrificed for the comfort of some?"
H. Orri Stefánsson has written an opinion piece about trafe-offs in alcohol policy for the Icelandic news website Vísir.
Parliamentary elections in Iceland are set for November 30, and according to Stefánsson, some parties want to make alcohol sales an election issue, particularly the sale of alcohol online and in grocery stores.
“Most researchers who have studied the effects of increased access to alcohol agree that increased availability generally leads to higher consumption and has negative social and public health effects. More people die from alcohol-related cancers, more acts of violence are committed under the influence, more children are harmed due to the drinking of parents and others close to them, and so on,” writes Stefánsson.
Increased accessibility to alcohol would mean considerable convenience for many, but it would also lead to increased suffering, health deterioration, and even death for others. According to Stefánsson, this is not an unusual trade-off; for instance, we accept that higher speed limits will lead to more traffic accidents.
“Similarly, one could argue that some level of suffering and health deterioration is an acceptable sacrifice for the majority to be able to buy alcohol in nearby grocery stores and online. However, those advocating for increased alcohol access must be able to defend this sacrifice and stand by the ethical position that, in this case, the convenience of the majority justifies the suffering and health issues of others. Simply ignoring the near-unanimous findings of those who have researched this issue is not acceptable in a public debate,” he argues.
“The current state of alcohol sales in Iceland, where some are able to break laws and regulations without any repercussions, undermines the social contract and public trust in laws and governance,” Stefánsson continues. “It is therefore desirable that the new government, likely to take office in a few weeks, will have a clear policy on alcohol sales and work to ensure that everyone plays by the same rules in this regard. It’s possible that this government will support further liberalization of alcohol sales. But hopefully, its leaders will also be prepared to publicly defend the suffering and health consequences that this will likely entail.”