Addiction
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To provide an overview of recent privatization/deregulation experiences in North America and other settings, in order to draw conclusions about the impacts that might be expected from such changes on rates of alcohol consumption and related problems. ⋯ The existing evaluation literature on the subject of privatization has tended to focus on examining the net short-term results in terms of alcohol consumption levels. Overall, there are too few studies employing adequate statistical methodologies to explore the underlying causes of changing alcohol consumption and alcohol-related harm. Finally, seven specific suggestions that may assist future studies are discussed.