#42 Where's Big Alcohol's class action suit?

A new Canadian guideline spotlights our cultural indifference to holding anyone but the sick accountable

This was meant to be a fun little chat with Ann Dowsett Johnston, (journalist, addiction expert, author of Drink, Canadian) about the new Canadian guidelines for drinking (which basically suggest “don’t”) but then she and I got into a really colorful discussion about a lot of fuckery: Why there’s no largely accepted concept of secondhand drinking, why people who drink to the point of addiction are irresponsible people who didn’t follow the guidance vs. victims who weren’t given informed consent and were marketed a carcinogenic neurotoxic addictive drug in ways that subvert all logic, and how that distinction contributes to blocking any forward movement in Big Alcohol having its Big Tobacco (or Big Pharma) moment; why there aren’t nutritional labels or warning labels on something that kills so many; why Big Alcohol pours so much money into those “Drink Responsibly” campaigns; and the like. The full conversation is here, transcript is below.