In Finland, medically certified absences were 20% higher among lifetime abstainers, former and heavy drinkers compared with light drinkers (Vahtera et al., A review of 22 studies from different countries observed a substantial economic burden of alcohol on society (Thavomcharoensap et al., In the United Kingdom, nearly 11 million working days were lost by alcohol-dependent workers in 2001, and the total cost of absenteeism due to alcohol was estimated to be £1.2 billion (UK Cabinet Office, 2003). In the European Union, alcohol accounted for an estimated €59 billion worth of potential lost production through absenteeism, unemployment and lost working years through premature death in 2003 (Anderson and Baumberg, 2006). Potential production losses were found to be an important part of alcohol-related costs in Scotland, France and Canada (Rehm et al., In particular, in the United States, lost productivity represented 72.2% of the total economic cost of excessive drinking.