Launched for the third consecutive year in France, theThe operation works on a simple principle: do not drink alcohol throughout the month of January.
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A month without drinking a drop of alcohol. For all volunteers, the “Dry January” begins on Saturday January 1st. Launched for the third year in a row in France, on the model of similar operations in the Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian world, the challenge operates on a simple principle: to refrain from consuming alcoholic beverages throughout the month of January.
The period is favorable to take a break, after festivals often marked by heavy consumption. But the goal is not only to rest your body, it is also to realize for yourself what changes in a daily life without alcohol. Instead of emphasizing the risks, this campaign emphasizes the benefits of slowing down. Participants are also stimulated by a challenge that brings together many people at the same time.
“A lot of people who take this break then continue” to consume less alcohol, report the lawyer Claude Rambaud, vice-president of the federation of associations France Assos Santé, who oversees this campaign, on the basis of studies carried out in Anglo-Saxon countries. “It launches a momentum”, she insists.
On the other hand, she is sorry that the operation is still not entitled to state support, unlike similar campaigns against smoking. “We have no government aid, we are still without means”, she laments. The associations reproach the State for giving in to the alcohol lobbies, in the first place the wine growers, who raise the specter of a hygienic campaign and unsuitable for “the art of living” French-style.
Public health France is nevertheless positioned “in support” organizers of the Dry January, explained in the fall, its general manager Geneviève Chêne, emphasizing other campaigns of the agency against the risks associated with alcoholism.