A new amendment proposal in the Estonian Parliament would allow 16- and 17-year-olds to work in jobs involving the preparation, offering and sale of alcoholic beverages. Public health organisations warn that the proposal would weaken the protection of minors and send a contradictory message about alcohol prevention.

Movendi Sweden is urging the Swedish Parliament to keep the food-service requirement for alcohol serving licences, arguing that the Alcohol Act should continue to protect public health, safety and working conditions.

A new CAN report shows that people who buy alcohol directly from producers in Sweden drink more than both Systembolaget customers and alcohol consumers overall. Younger adults are also more likely to use the new farm sales option.

NordAN has sent a letter to Alþingi’s Judicial Affairs and Education Committee urging it to reject Bill 479, the proposal that would allow private online alcohol sales in Iceland. The letter comes just after the Reykjanes District Court ruled that the business model used by Smáríkið amounted to unlawful domestic retail under current Icelandic law.

Six months after the NordAN conference in Riga, the Riga+6 online meeting will bring participants back together to review recent developments in alcohol and drug policy, revisit key themes from the original conference, and look ahead to the next NordAN gathering in the Faroe Islands.

NordAN’s Open Day in Copenhagen brought together Nordic and Baltic partners to discuss alcohol age limits, youth drinking and local policy action. Presentations from NordAN, WHO Europe, Blue Cross Denmark, Alkohol & Samfund, the Danish Cancer Society, NTAKK and WHO highlighted both the political contest around age limits and the evidence supporting stronger alcohol policy.

What started as a popular Labor Party promise to let the beer flow until 6 AM during the World Cup has turned into a controversial policy fight. Critics call the proposal "idiotic" and dangerous. Despite warnings from health ministry experts about increased violence and crime, political leaders have pushed forward. Resistance is coming from unions concerned for worker safety and NGOs like Ly, which argues that "setting children’s safety aside" for a football tournament is a "

New figures from Denmark’s National Health Profile 2025 show a continued decline in the share of Danes drinking more than 10 units of alcohol per week. But according to Alkohol & Samfund, Denmark still has a very strong alcohol culture, and among young people binge drinking appears to be increasing.

A new report from the Alcohol and Society research series finds that more than half of all alcohol consumption takes place in contexts that lead to intoxication. The authors warn that this pattern is not marginal but normalised, and that it drives both acute harms and long-term health risks.

NordAN has submitted comments to the European Commission on Finland’s latest alcohol law reform. The network argues that the proposal is not just a small technical change, but another step in a wider pattern that gradually weakens Alko’s role while Finland still relies on the monopoly’s public health justification.

A long-running dispute over online alcohol sales in Iceland is now moving on two tracks at once. A court case due to be heard on 5 March will test whether the current sales model used by private operators is legal under existing law, while a new bill before Alþingi would change that legal framework by formally allowing licensed online alcohol retail. Together, the two processes could shape the future of Iceland’s alcohol monopoly system.

State funding for the EPT network, which coordinates NGO cooperation in preventive substance use work, will end in 2026, despite growing substance-related harms and broad opposition from civil society organisations.

Icelandic prevention organisations say the current debate on alcohol policy should be grounded in facts, including a long-running police case on online alcohol sales that is now before the courts.

IOGT Norge says the football World Cup should not be used as a political tool to push for more liberal alcohol rules. The organisation argues that municipalities can already grant time limited exemptions, without weakening the alcohol law.

At its General Assembly in Riga, Latvia, on 13 November 2025, NordAN adopted two resolutions on drug policy and alcohol-related health taxes. They call for a prevention-first EU drug strategy and for using alcohol tax revenues to protect prevention and civil society.

NordAN turns 25 as we meet in Riga to look honestly at policy under stress. Budgets are tight, politics shifts, industry pushes, and mental health needs grow. We will compare what holds and what fails, learn from other countries, get ideas, and find contact points. The gap between international promises and national action is real. Our task is to describe it clearly and improve interventions that protect people.

A new pilot project in Finland aims to support the well-being of pregnant women and ensure a safe, substance-free environment for fetal development. The project evaluates the use of a new, highly sensitive PEth blood test as a potential routine screening method for alcohol use in early pregnancy.

The Christian Democrats in Denmark have proposed a new pilot program offering free residential treatment for 400 people struggling with alcohol addiction. The initiative, “Glæd dig til at være ædru” (“Look forward to being sober”), aims to help affected families and reduce the social and economic costs linked to alcohol dependence.

A new CAN report shows that Swedes are bringing home far less alcohol from abroad than before. Between 2019 and 2024, traveler imports dropped by more than 40 percent, with spirits showing the largest decline.

The Finnish government’s proposal to expand alcohol home delivery and distance selling threatens to increase alcohol consumption and harms while directing profits abroad. EHYT warns that the move undermines proven public health policies and places children and youth at greater risk.