Political controversy has arisen in France because the government does not support ‘Dry January’, an alcohol-free month in January. A group of addiction experts had asked the cabinet for a month without alcohol, defi de janvierto support. But according to the alcohol lobby, a month of abstinence does not fit with French culture.
The idea of Dry January, which originated in Great Britain, is to temporarily stop toasting after the holidays. This is good for health and offers the opportunity to alert people to the risks of alcohol. “Why does the state support a month without tobacco, but not a month without alcohol?” the experts wonder. According to forty-eight leading academics and doctors specializing in addiction, alcohol causes 41 thousand deaths per year. “Yet prevention is almost nil. Something is going wrong here.”
The cabinet of President Emmanuel Macron wants nothing to do with an alcohol-free month. That is no surprise: the president himself likes to drink a glass of wine with lunch and dinner. Earlier, Macron mentioned one meal without wine “a bit sad.” The president may fear that support for an alcohol-free month will further reduce his popularity.
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