DRY JANUARY? BETTER NOT
Italian consumers and wine culture
Is abstinence from alcohol better than education for moderate drinking? The British say yes to dry January and perhaps even the French. In Italy no
By Donatella Cinelli Colombini
It must be said that in Italy the problem of alcohol abuse is much lower than in other consumer countries. If in fact in Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Hungary, Serbia, Romania, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Belarus, Lithuania and Portugal the average alcohol consumed in a year is 12.5 liters per person. In Italy it is between 5 and 7 liters as in Japan, Iceland or China. It must be known , in the ranking of the OECD countries on alcohol abuse, in the first place are the USA, and Italy is in last position.
However wine is only 12% of the total alcoholic beverages consumed by about 2.3 billion people in the world. To alcohol should be added drugs which are often used in a combined way, especially by young people, to accelerate the euphoric effect.