Eight experts discuss the need for a new national alcohol strategy | Full video

The SSA filmed a policy roundtable discussion in February 2026 on the topic of a national alcohol strategy. See press release: https://www.addiction-ssa.org/news/ex... Key themes from the discussion were: harms related to cancer and liver disease; the influence of the alcohol industry on policy; the need to change the narrative about people who experience harms from alcohol; the potential risks and benefits of looking to no- and low-alcohol (NoLo) drinks to reduce population harm; what works in alcohol policy; and potential windows of opportunity for effecting change. 0:00 Intro 03:07 Chapter one: The harms of alcohol 03:19 What problems does alcohol cause? 10:15 What are the most effective alcohol policy options? 12:50 Will health warning labels make a difference? 17:26 What do we know about the impact of minimum unit pricing? 20:40 How are different communities at different kinds of risk from alcohol? 22:07 What changes have we seen in the last 10–20 years? 26:53 Chapter two: What works in alcohol policy? 27:00 Has the debate around alcohol policy gone stale? 27:43 Are alcohol care teams offering something new? 31:25 Do alcohol-free and low-alcohol products offer benefits? 46:43 Chapter three: Barriers to an effective alcohol strategy 48:22 How does industry influence play out in practice? 55:24 Should alcohol be treated like tobacco? 1:03:12 How does the industry use legal threats? 1:06:30 Do the public want a 'nanny state'? 1:07:25 Is the health service having to deal with harm from alcohol when it could be doing other things? 1:10:43 How big a role does political ideology play in alcohol policy? 1:14:28 Chapter four: Reasons to be optimistic 1:15:40 What positive trends can you see at the moment that might lead us towards a better alcohol strategy? 1:27:00 What can different groups contribute to making change happen? 1:29:05 Could local public health workers play a bigger role? 1:31:15 Could people with lived experience contribute to policy discussions as well as research? 1:33:23 Final thoughts The Society for the Study of Addiction would like to thank speakers Aunee Bhogaita, Clive Henn, Professor John Holmes, Dr Gautam Mehta, Rosanna O'Connor, Dr Peter Rice, Professor Julia Sinclair, and Alice Wiseman MBE. Copyright Society for the Study of Addiction 2026 All rights reserved