National Assembly Representative: "Even weak wine can get you drunk if you drink too much..."

"Weak wine, drinking too much will also make you drunk..."

Discussing the draft law, on the morning of January 16, delegate Tran Quang Chieu - Standing Member of the Finance and Budget Committee said that alcohol and beer are two different products that cannot be sanctioned the same way. As for the regulation prohibiting the sale of alcohol and beer on the internet, Mr. Chieu said that it can only be applied to alcohol, but beer cannot be banned.

Referring to the name of the bill, a delegate from Nam Dinh province argued that if the law is named as preventing the harmful effects of alcohol and beer, it would be like affirming that these are harmful drinks.

“If so, what do we think when on holidays and Tet we offer our ancestors, and when we worship our deceased relatives, in addition to a bowl of rice, there is also a cup of wine? What do we think when international guests come to visit, and Party and State leaders hold a glass of wine to receive them?”, delegate Chieu asked.

Also disagreeing with the name of the draft, Deputy Head of the National Assembly Delegation of Quang Nam Province Phan Thai Binh proposed changing the name to the Law on Control of "Alcoholic Beverage Abuse", targeting people under 18 years old.

Mr. Binh noted that the demand for alcoholic beverages in general should not be reduced, because it would affect responsible drinkers and legitimate businesses.

Delegate Nguyen Anh Tri (Hanoi Delegation) supports the early promulgation of this law because the harmful effects of alcohol and beer are increasingly widespread and serious. “As a doctor who hardly drinks alcohol, I understand and share this deeply,” Delegate Tri said, suggesting that the bill, in addition to preventing and combating harmful effects, should also provide guidance and create conditions for alcohol to exist in a better, more civilized life.

This delegate said that the bill is not as strict as the regulation prohibiting forcing people under 18 to drink alcohol: “I propose prohibiting forcing and inciting others to drink alcohol. Everyone does that, regardless of age. I have sat in meetings where they incited each other to drink alcohol.”

According to him, wine and beer are goods that need to be advertised, but with limited content, location, time and type, and no need to limit alcohol content. Because “drinking too much weak wine will make you drunk. A wise man who talks too much, no matter how good, will be boring”.

"Must be put on the scale"

Explaining some issues of concern to delegates, Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Kim Tien emphasized that the opinions of delegates are all valid from different perspectives and the Drafting Committee will study and absorb them in the spirit of issuing policies that "issues that are beneficial to the people will be done at the highest level, those that are not beneficial to the people will not be done".

Emphasizing that this is a difficult law, the Minister of Health said there are "confrontations" between the desire for the law to protect human health to the maximum and the desire of manufacturers and businesses to generate revenue and profit. This law was born from a more health-oriented perspective and must be feasible.

International experience shows that the solution to limit the harmful effects of alcohol and beer is to reduce the availability of these drinks, increase excise tax and control advertising.

The female minister also emphasized that currently we must balance economic benefits with benefits for social security and human health.

Faced with many different opinions on the name of the draft law, the Minister of Health proposed to keep the name as option number 1. Because this is both a viewpoint, easy to understand, simple and only prevents and combats the harmful effects of alcohol and beer in the process of production, business, consumption and drinking, and does not affect the culture of alcohol and beer.

“It does not mean that when this law is issued, all alcohol and beer will be banned. In this law, there is not a single word prohibiting drinking alcohol and beer” – Ms. Nguyen Thi Kim Tien once again emphasized and said that the Drafting Committee will absorb and edit to continue to present to the National Assembly.