Danica Keric, Cancer Council WA and Tahnee McCausland, Mental Health Commission
Editor’s note: In the second of a series of Western Australia-based blogs, Danica Keric from Cancer Council WA and Tahnee McCausland from the Mental Health Commission outline a new state-wide campaign aimed at reducing alcohol harms.
In June 2023, the Mental Health Commission and Cancer Council WA, supported by Healthway, launched a new Alcohol. Think Again campaign, ‘What’s your poison?’.
The campaign prompts people to reconsider the common phrase, ‘what’s your poison?’, by showing that when a person drinks alcohol, the body converts it to acetaldehyde, which is a poison.
In a world-first, the campaign takes us inside the body to show this conversion process and explains that every drink converts to more poison, increasing the damage, and increasing the risk of cancer.
It urges West Australian adults to reduce their drinking to reduce the damage. It was developed in consultation with over 130 Western Australian adults, and guided by experts in public health, research, and social marketing.
While many people understand the link between alcohol and liver disease, most West Australians are not aware that even low levels of alcohol use can increase cancer risk. Alcohol is categorised as a Group 1 carcinogen, the same as tobacco and asbestos, so when it comes to cancer risk, there is no safe level of alcohol use. Alcohol causes seven types of cancer, including cancers of the mouth, throat, oesophagus, liver, bowel, and female breast.
WA’s Health and Mental Health Minister, the Hon Amber-Jade Sanderson MLA, launched the campaign at a June 2023 event. Minister Sanderson shared a personal story of the devastating harms of alcohol on her family, and committed to seeing drinking rates fall in WA. Access the event recording to hear more about the campaign from the Minister, Melissa Ledger and Ashley Reid from Cancer Council, Kelly Kennington from the Mental Health Commission, and Prof Hooi Ee, a Gastroenterologist from Sir Charles Gairdner Osborne Park Health Care Group.
The campaign toolkit provides further information, links to all materials and other resources, outlines the evidence and explains the media schedule.
Visit alcoholthinkagain.com.au.