A month without drinking a drop of alcohol.
For all the volunteers, the “Dry January” begins this Saturday, an operation which still does not have the right to state support, unlike similar campaigns against smoking.
"We have no government aid (and) we are still without means", underlines the lawyer Claude Rambaud, vice-president of the federation of associations France Assos Santé, which oversees this campaign.
Launched for the third consecutive year in France, on the model of similar operations in the Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian world, the “Dry January” operates on a simple principle: do not drink alcohol during the entire month of January.
This is a good time to take a break, after holidays often marked by heavy alcohol consumption.
But the goal is not only to rest your body, it is to realize for yourself what changes in a daily life without alcohol.
Give impetus
"The idea is to try to take this break, but the campaign is not at all judgmental: everyone can try to measure their relationship to alcohol during that month", explains Claude Rambaud, fearing however, a difficult context with the Covid-19 pandemic which continues in an anxiety-provoking atmosphere.
This type of campaign is proving more and more effective in the field of public health.
Instead of emphasizing the risks represented by a substance - here alcohol - we stress the advantages of slowing down its consumption.
Participants are also stimulated by a challenge that brings together many people at the same time.
"Many people who take this break then continue" to consume less alcohol, reports Claude Rambaud, on the basis of studies made in Anglo-Saxon countries.
"It launches a momentum," she insists.
The "months without" are not alike
It is the same principle as the “Tobacco Free Month”, launched each year in the fall, with a small nuance: the “Dry January” does not aim to definitively encourage total abstinence.
But, in France, the reality is very different between the two operations.
The “Tobacco-Free Month” has been supported for years by the State, via the Public Health France agency, while the “Dry January” is only the result of associations, admittedly joined by several municipalities such as that of Lyon. .
"It has nothing to do with what is happening in the United Kingdom where they are extremely supported by the government", regrets Claude Rambaud.
The associations reproach the State for giving in to the alcohol lobbies, in the first place the wine growers, who raise the specter of a hygienic campaign unsuited to the French “art of living”.
A health risk from the first drink
On the side of Public Health France which, according to several sources, had almost embarked on the campaign for its first year in 2020 but had given up in extremis, the balancing act continues.
The agency, which depends on the Ministry of Health, does not hide its interest in the "Dry January";
it has carried out several surveys on its progress and its experience by the participants.
But it keeps away from direct involvement.
Public Health France is "in support" of the organizers of "Dry January", explained in the fall, its general manager Geneviève Chêne, emphasizing other campaigns of the agency against the risks associated with alcoholism. .
These public operations are, however, more focused on the risks linked to behavior - aggressiveness, danger on the road - than those which directly affect the health of drinkers.
However, these health risks are often poorly understood, as evidenced by a frequent misunderstanding on the “Dry January”.
The campaign does not only concern heavy drinkers because moderate but regular consumption also represents a health risk.
Economy
Russia: Champagne producers change their labels to continue to be sold on the territory
Society
Paris: An operation to raise awareness of the dangers of alcohol before New Year's Eve
Tobacco Free Month
Health
Alcohol
Alcoholism
0 comment
0 share
Share on Messenger
Share on Facebook
Share on twitter
Share on Flipboard
Share on Pinterest
Share on Linkedin
Send by Mail
To safeguard
A fault ?
To print