They want “strong gestures.” In a letter revealed by Le Parisien and published in full by France info, 48 addicts ask the Minister of Health, Aurélien Rousseau, to support the operation “Dry January”, or “January Challenge”, which encourages people not to use drugs and alcohol during the month.
“This is a positive operation that consists of all of us, as part of a collective movement, questioning the place that alcohol occupies in our lives and assuming the challenge of not consuming it during this period,” write the members of the National University School of Addictions Professors.
“Normalize abstinence”
Health professionals promote a “social mobilization operation of a voluntary nature, which is neither normative nor moralistic”, underlining that the “benefits” of this type of operation have been “testimonial” in several countries, including the United Kingdom.
Contacted by BFMTV.com, addict and professor at the University of Bordeaux, Marc Auriacombe, highlights “an initiative that promotes not consuming alcohol and normalizes the possibility of being abstinent.”
“Although some people do not fully accept the challenge, this contributes to raising the question of their consumption,” adds the signatory of the letter, who sees dry January “as a warning sign on the way.”
“Trust” in the government is “seriously damaged”
In their letter, the addicts regret that “confidence in the Government to pursue a coherent and decisive policy has been seriously damaged”, while the “support” of Public Health of France for “dry January” has been suspended.
In fact, at the end of 2019, the government had canceled its support for the operation prepared by Public Health France in January 2020, claiming that the project “had not been validated” by the then minister, Agnès Buzyn. Professionals and associations denounced pressure from wine lobbies during Emmanuel Macron’s trip to Champagne.
“It is clear that the Government is sitting between two chairs. But, logically, the role of the Ministry of Health is to tip the balance in favor of moderation,” says addict Marc Auriacombe.
Operation Dry January is led today in France by a collective of associations that “met with public opinion,” according to the letter. “It would be more than a shame if the Ministry of Health and Prevention and its agency in this area remained on the sidelines,” the signatories emphasize.
Canceled campaigns
This year, several sequences have altered relations between the government and the actors involved in the fight against alcoholism, such as the filing of two prevention campaigns.
“Don’t let alcohol knock you out” and “When we drink a lot, our health is affected”, read these posters refuted by the former Minister of Health, François Braun, who justified the Parisian.
“I take responsibility! I decided to stop these two campaigns because I found them useless. It was my decision, their too negative message did not fit at all with the idea of prevention that I had of them,” he defends himself in the newspaper’s columns.
The last campaign, led this time by the current minister Aurélien Rousseau, was not unanimous either. Advising young people in particular to “eat before drinking”, the advertisements released in September were considered ambiguous, as they did not clearly call for a reduction in consumption.
Source: BFM TV
