As American liquor leaves Canadian shelves, BC’s alcohol consumption reaches record low
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On Monday, March 10, in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s “new threats against Canada’s dairy and lumber industries,” the B.C. government decided to strike “all American beer, wine, spirits and refreshment beverages from the shelves at BCLIQUOR stores.” This means a lot of popular brands such as Jack Daniel’s, Jim Beam, and Tito’s will not be widely available in the province going forward.
While this is probably desperately sad to some — those who consider a Jack and Coke without Jack Daniel’s to be inauthentic — this embargo on American alcohol comes at an interesting time during B.C.’s journey with alcohol. Studies show British Columbians are actually drinking less these days — and that could be a good thing.
According to data collected by UVic’s Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research (CISUR), per capita alcohol sales have reached a record low since they first began measuring in 2001, showing a decrease of nine per cent in terms of alcohol intake per person in 2023/24 from the previous fiscal year.
The recent decrease in B.C. residents’ consumption is more impressive considering that it reached a record high in 2020/21 around COVID, averaging about 550 standard drinks per person, per year. Since then, according to CISUR, per capita sales have fallen nearly 15 per cent.
So, why are British Columbians drinking so much less now? CISUR Director Dr. Tim Naimi believes it could be in part due to Canada’s Guidance on Alcohol and Health, released in 2023. Other possible factors include more people moving to B.C. from countries that consume less alcohol than Canada, inflating our population and lowering the drinking average, as well as increased costs of living, which make it harder for people to afford leisure products like alcohol.
It could also be that, after drinking habits swelled during the pandemic, the general public needed to take a step back and examine these habits, and the effect they had on their health. Perhaps drinking is simply becoming too costly for B.C. residents, physically as well as financially. The recent surge in popularity of “mocktails” and other non-alcoholic beverages certainly indicates a maintained interest in drinking culture, just not the consumption of actual alcohol.
It’s no secret that you run less of a chance of physical danger the less alcohol you drink. From colon cancer to a car crash, the more you drink, the higher your risk of health problems and injury. According to Canada’s Guidance on Alcohol and Health, alcohol-caused deaths in Canada reached about 18 000 in 2017. The report cited $16.6 billion spent that year on costs associated with alcohol use, $5.4 billion of which was spent directly on health care.
This essentially represents a double cost to Canadian citizens. We pay for alcohol products, as well as the higher healthcare costs caused by alcohol use –– at a time when prices, overall, are going up, this is an expenditure we should be looking at seriously.
Alcohol is difficult to avoid in B.C. The province’s very identity is often tied to its production of beer, wine, and cider, and it is by virtue simply of being surrounded by it that I think many of us continue to drink at the level we do.
That being said, we now stand at a time when the cost of living is continuing to grow, and B.C.’s drive to drink is lower than it’s been in two decades. With so many popular American brands being pulled from shelves here in Canada, our motivation will either shift towards supporting more local breweries and distilleries, or further reducing the role of alcohol in our lifestyle.
Public opinion on drinking is evidently changing, and while this does present the opportunity to support the Canadian alcohol sector, the timing couldn’t be more perfect for us to seriously consider the benefits to our health and financial wellbeing that drinking less promises.
There are more reasons now than ever to drink less. At the very least, it’s never too late to practice moderation. Whether it’s done for political, economic, or personal health reasons, drinking less helps to prevent a suite of personal issues and solve a series of societal ones.
