Review of the Lithuanian Alcohol Control Legislation in 1990–2020

Abstract

Since the early 1990s, Lithuania has experienced an increasing level of alcohol consumption and a heavy burden of alcohol-related harm, which is associated with the development of alcohol policies. The aim of this analysis was to provide a chronology of change of Lithuanian alcohol control legislation and to present several other detailed examples of the political processes. The data were collected using document reviews. During the last three decades, the Lithuanian alcohol control policies have undergone several cycles of stricter control and liberalizations. Some of the limitations of the study are the exceptional focus on the public health perspective and the inclusion of policies targeting the population as a whole. The strength of the study is in providing a detailed background for future policy effectiveness studies. Some of the recent periods when a series of ‘best buy’ interventions were implemented during a short period are of particular importance, constituting a natural experiment, whose effects need to be studied in more detail in the future.

Classifying Alcohol Control Policies with Respect to Expected Changes in Consumption and Alcohol-Attributable Harm: The Example of Lithuania

“…Based on the strict criteria used, only three policy enactments qualified between 2000 and 2019 for inclusion: 1 January 2008, 1 March 2017, and 1 January 2018 (further details provided in Table 2; see also [10,35]).…”

“…Furthermore, and not strictly related to Tier 1 interventions but enacted in parallel, drink-driving legislation was toughened by introducing higher penalties, car confiscation, or driver imprisonment for repeat offenders, and a reduction in the blood alcohol concentration (BAC) threshold for young drivers (those having had a driving license for less than two years) from 0.4 to 0.2 per mille. Lastly, alcohol advertising was restricted during the daytime for TV and radio, with an indication that there would be a full advertising ban in a few years [10,38]. While we cannot rule out that these additional measures may have confounded the effects of tax increases, this is relatively unlikely, as drink-driving legislation and regulation on advertisement follow other more specific and less immediate pathways to reducing alcohol harm.…”

“…Major alcohol control policies implemented between 2001 and 2019 in Lithuania (for further details, see[10,35]). Cont.…”

Heterogeneity in trends of alcohol use around the world: Do policies make a difference?

“…Indeed, unlike many small increases in excise taxation in other countries, in exemplary countries in Eastern Europe, Russia [18] and Lithuania [22], alcohol excise taxation increased substantially so that it actually resulted in reduced affordability of alcohol after the implementation [for the concept of affordability, see 23]. In general, former Soviet Union countries also implemented strategies to reduce alcohol availability that were known to be effective, such as reduced hours of sale and an increase in the minimum legal drinking age that resulted in marked reductions in availability [for the concepts, see 24,25].…”

Impact of alcohol on mortality in Eastern Europe: Trends and policy responses

“…In particular, there is relatively little in the international literature on the various policy responses initiated in these countries to varying levels of alcohol problems [14]. For example, in the most recent period, Lithuania has received some attention as being the country with one of the highest current levels of liver cirrhosis mortality [15]. The policy responses in this former Soviet country have been extensive, but until recently [16], little was known about them.…”