Why do we still sell alcohol-based mouthwash in Winnipeg?

The seemingly perennial problem of solvent abuse is in the news once again, with reports this past week that H1N1-plagued Manitoba First Nations communities were not sent shipments of alcohol-based hand sanitizer by Health Canada because - and officials actually said this - of fears its recipients were going to drink it. This is allegedly an ongoing concern; some reserves have previously seen their hand-sanitizer supply stolen, apparently for just such a purpose.

So after some debate, Health Canada elected instead to pursue a non-alcoholic sanitizer, which then turned out to be on a lengthy back order - almost as though there's a flu going around - and reserves were left to fend for themselves, evidenced by Garden Hill Chief David Harper purchasing the necessary supply of non-alcoholic sanitizer himself.

This story is miserable for several reasons, but for now, let's focus on that resulting decision. Almost too simple, it nonetheless seems to hold merit: when concerned about the prospect of an alcohol-based hygiene product being misused, replace it with an equally effective non-alcoholic one.

This brings me back to the original question that I was pondering. There is a severe and undeniable problem in this city with drinking mouthwash for its alcoholic content; turn the wrong corner downtown or hang around the bus depot for a while and you're likely to find enough abandoned Listerine bottles to build a recycling plant. (The bus depot is addressing the situation by fleeing the neighbourhood entirely, but that's another topic.) And no, let's not assume or pretend that this addiction is strictly the domain of Aboriginal people. This is not a racially isolated phenomenon and dismissing it as such isn't going to help anything.

What can we do, then? A walk down the oral-care aisle of the closest drugstore reveals multiple non-alcoholic alternatives; to my knowledge, the alcohol isn't even the active ingredient in mouthwashes. I'm not a dentist, but unless there's an important benefit to the alcoholic incarnations that their non-alcoholic equivalents lack, why couldn't the city institute a bylaw barring the sale of alcohol-based mouthwashes?

I'll grant that the city's most recent bylaw ban, prohibiting the sale of spray paint to minors, has failed spectacularly in curbing graffiti (sorry, Wild Planet!). But it establishes a precedent of the city outlawing socially troublesome retail chemicals in the name of the common good - and really, if public-health concerns didn't trump existing business practices, we'd still be spraying crops with DDT. Some stores would inevitably complain about the prospective revenue loss, but if the survival of your business depends entirely on the sale of mouthwash to addicts then you're probably in the wrong business.

I'm certainly not in charge of city policy, and anyone willing to convince me of the importance of keeping alcohol-based mouthwash on the shelves is encouraged to do so. This is just an idea for us to chew on - or rather, to swish around in the mouth for half a minute, then spit out when it starts to burn a little.

James Howard should floss more often.
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