Abstract
Danish alcohol policy is known to be liberal even if from the middle of the 1990s it has been going in a more restrictive direction. The most important Danish policy instrument has been education and information, where policymakers have attempted to change alcohol habits by changing public attitudes to alcohol consumption and possible regulations. The aim of this article is to examine whether Danish attitudes to governmental alcohol policy instruments and regulations have changed during the last 20 years – and if so, what directions these changes have taken. Five surveys on alcohol consumption and opinions on different alcohol policy instruments and regulations – from 1984, 1989, 1994, 1997/98 and 2002 – have been examined. All five surveys are cross-sectional studies with populations of representative samples of the Danish population age 18”70 yrs. Comparative analysis has been carried out on questions from the different surveys relating to opinions on: alcohol prices and taxation, alcohol and work, drinking alcohol in public places, compulsory treatment, experienced harms and inconveniences caused by intoxicated persons, and the physical availability of alcohol. The results show that Danish attitudes on alcohol policy instruments and regulation seems to go in two directions – when it comes to prising and taxation, drinking in public places, and availability, the changes in attitudes point in a more liberal direction, while when it comes to young peoples access to alcohol, compulsory treatment, and intoxication, changes in attitudes point in a more restrictive direction.