Has the Boozing Finn Been Tamed? Changes in the Relationships between Drinking, Intoxication, and Alcohol-Related Harm When Turning from a Spirits-Drinking Country to a Beer-Drinking Country

Abstract

The aim of this study is to examine whether there is evidence of a “taming” of drinking patterns and a decrease in the rate of harms per each liter of alcohol consumed during the time when Finland transformed from a spirits-drinking country with a low alcohol consumption level to a beer-drinking country with a high level of consumption. According to the results, there has been a nearly constant increase in both alcohol consumption and related harm. Results on harms-per-liter were ambiguous, with stronger increases for chronic than for acute harm and stronger increase in register-based aggregate-level data than in survey data. The same amounts of alcohol are nowadays drunk more slowly than before. Overall, there is no compelling evidence in the data that Finnish drinking patterns would have become more moderate or that Finnish drinking habits would have been tamed. The Finnish case, then, does not lend support to reduction of intoxication-related drinking problems through modifying beverage preferences.