Estonian alcohol control legislation in 1990-2020: A narrative review.

ISSUES: The aim of this narrative review is to provide a detailed, chronological overview on the development of Estonian alcohol control legislation during 1990-2020. APPROACH: Qualitative document review focused on six legislative acts central to Estonian alcohol control policy. Distinguishing four policy areas (availability, advertising, taxation and drink-driving), the review identifies and describes significant changes in these legislative acts and their amendments from 1990 to 2020. KEY FINDINGS: The review identified 51 significant changes in acts regulating either availability, advertising, taxation or drink-driving in Estonia. Majority of these changes (n = 36) relate to Alcohol Excise Duty Act and the Alcohol Act which regulate the taxation, production and sales of alcohol. Although all six key legislative acts were introduced during the 1990s, only a few significant changes to alcohol control policy were made in this decade. In contrast, the 2000s experienced an intense period of new legislation and amendments followed by 2010s when the main emphasis was on alcohol taxation and advertising. IMPLICATIONS: During three decades, Estonian alcohol control legislation has gradually evolved to include most evidence-based measures to reduce the harmful use of alcohol, the effects of the policies on consumption and alcohol-related harms remain relatively modest. CONCLUSION: The liberal and unregulated alcohol control measures in the 1990s have transitioned in the following two decades towards a coherent alcohol policy. While many of the World Health Organization's 'best buys' have been successfully implemented, there are still some recommendations which have not been targeted.

A global analysis of the impact of COVID-19 stay-at-home restrictions on crime.

The stay-at-home restrictions to control the spread of COVID-19 led to unparalleled sudden change in daily life, but it is unclear how they affected urban crime globally. We collected data on daily counts of crime in 27 cities across 23 countries in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. We conducted interrupted time series analyses to assess the impact of stay-at-home restrictions on different types of crime in each city. Our findings show that the stay-at-home policies were associated with a considerable drop in urban crime, but with substantial variation across cities and types of crime. Meta-regression results showed that more stringent restrictions over movement in public space were predictive of larger declines in crime.