Institute of Alcohol Studies (IAS)

The Institute of Alcohol Studies is an independent organization that gathers information, policy insights, and practical approaches from both local and international sources to encourage informed discussions about the effects of alcohol on society. Our mission is to enhance the use of the most reliable evidence in making public policy decisions related to alcohol.

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It's just a matter of time: drone-delivered alcohol in your neighbourhood

Jan 29, 2025 | ias.org.uk | Simone Pettigrew

Primary drivers of alcohol use are availability, affordability, and convenience. Drone delivery of alcohol ticks all three of these boxes. Drones can bypass traffic congestion, reduce costs by eradicating the need for a driver, and provide fast access to alcohol at the click of a button. Drone delivery trials for food products are already in place in jurisdictions such as the United States and Australia.
New alcohol mortality data presents a bleak picture for England

Dec 16, 2024 | ias.org.uk | Colin Angus

New figures, published by the Office of Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) as part of their Local Alcohol Profiles for England, show that England set another unwanted record in 2023, with the highest number of alcohol-specific deaths on record. 8,274 people died in 2023 from causes that are wholly attributable to alcohol, an increase of 4.6% from 2022 and 42.2% since 2019.
Following the science on public health partnerships: the alcohol industry is no ordinary stakeholder

Oct 29, 2024 | ias.org.uk | Nason Maani |Mark P. Petticrew

When faced with the need to respond to pressing public health challenges, it is often said solutions must involve a “whole of society approach”, in which as many stakeholders as possible are involved, reflecting the urgency and scale of the problem. While conceptually appealing, this approach can be influenced and co-opted in damaging and self-defeating ways. If you are in desperate need of protecting your hen house, should a whole of society approach mean you need to involve foxes?
How can genetics help assess the potential harms of moderate drinking?

Oct 14, 2024 | ias.org.uk | Stephen Burgess

Is drinking a moderate amount of alcohol bad for you? Answering questions about potential causal effects in humans is difficult. If you want to know what factors affect the lifespan of a lightbulb, your task is simple: get a few hundred lightbulbs, and start experimenting. Lightbulbs are cheap, available, and (for the large part) homogeneous – they all behave the same way. Humans are none of those things.
Alcohol trade groups mislead Prime Minister on duty ‘increase’, putting revenue - and lives - at risk

Oct 9, 2024 | ias.org.uk | Jem Roberts

Alcohol trade associations seem intent on misinforming their members, the public, and the new Prime Minister. In numerous newspaper articles, interviews, and social media posts, both the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) and the Wine & Spirit Trade Association (WSTA) have claimed that the ‘increase’ in alcohol duty rates last August led to the Treasury losing revenue.
Temperance and alcohol control advocacy

Sep 30, 2024 | ias.org.uk | James Nicholls

It is sometimes suggested that alcohol control advocates, like the Institute of Alcohol Studies (IAS), are ‘neo-temperance’ campaigners. Because of the general perception of the temperance movement as glum, finger-wagging and judgemental, accusations of this type are not meant as a compliment. An example of anti-temperance satire from c. 1895But are such accusations fair – either to alcohol control campaigners or their Victorian predecessors?
Can alcohol control policies reduce family and domestic violence?

Sep 17, 2024 | ias.org.uk | Michala Kowalski

Family and domestic violence accounts for nearly . In New South Wales, the most populous state in Australia, reported rates of family and domestic violence have steadily increased since 2019. Successive Commonwealth and State governments across the country have launched plans and strategies, funded media and sports campaigns, and supported the work of foundations, all with the goal of preventing this kind of violence in particular.
Making the wine duty ‘easement’ permanent would negate the public health objective of the duty reform

Jul 8, 2024 | ias.org.uk | Jem Roberts

The wine industry is lobbying hard – or “hell-bent” as the Wine and Spirit Trade Association (WSTA) says – to retain a system where tax per unit of alcohol reduces as wine increases in strength. This goes directly against the objective of the alcohol duty reforms introduced in August 2023, and appears to be an attempt to alarm and confuse its members, policymakers, and the public. So what is the ‘wine easement’ and why is it bad for public health?
Is a little bit of alcohol really good for us?: What we have learned from better-designed studies

May 9, 2024 | ias.org.uk | Rachel Visontay

Research has long found that, when compared with abstinence, moderate alcohol consumption is associated with lower risk for a diverse range of health outcomes. But determining whether alcohol is truly health protective depends on whether we can tease apart causation from association – what we call ‘causal inference’. Until recently, most studies did not use strong methods for causal inference.
Can we increase government revenue by raising alcohol taxes?

Mar 26, 2024 | ias.org.uk | Jakob Manthey

Alcohol consumption is a major global public health concern, causing various social and health harms. To address these issues, governments often impose alcohol excise taxes. However, some argue that increasing alcohol taxes leads to a decrease in government revenue. This blog post examines the relationship between alcohol taxes and government tax revenue, as well as the impact of changes in these taxes on government revenue.