Community harms
It is sometimes thought that drinking too much alcohol only harms the individual drinker. But heavy drinking can also lead to social problems that affect everyone in the community.
Heavy alcohol use can negatively affect relationships with family and friends, and can harm the community through increased crime and extra burden on health and community services.
Nunavummiut have been struggling to find effective ways to address this serious public health problem. Communities have an important role to play in improving public safety by promoting low-risk alcohol drinking behaviours and creating safer environments where drinking alcohol takes place. Harmful drinking behaviours can happen in many different settings, like workplaces, licensed sites, recreational and other community gatherings.
This section describes the social harms caused by heavy alcohol use, and the areas where communities can focus their efforts to reduce the burden of harms and social costs associated with alcohol use.