Alcohol: the honest arithmetic
Professional review pending Alcohol
Canada's 2023 guidance replaced "safe daily limits" with risk tiers. Low risk ends at 2 standard drinks a week, and the risk curve climbs from there. Knowing what a standard drink is changes the math.
In 2023 the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction replaced the old "low-risk drinking guidelines" with something blunter: a continuum of risk. There is no known safe threshold; there are tiers, and you choose your tier knowingly.
The tiers, per week
- 0 drinks: the only risk-free amount. Benefits include better health and measurably better sleep.
- 1 to 2 standard drinks: low risk. You are likely to avoid alcohol-related consequences for yourself or others.
- 3 to 6 standard drinks: moderate risk. This is the tier where risk of several cancers, including breast and colon cancer, measurably increases.
- 7 or more: increasingly high risk. Heart disease and stroke risk rises significantly, and each additional weekly drink raises it further.
- Any single occasion: more than 2 drinks in a sitting is associated with increased risk of injury and harm to yourself and others.
- Pregnancy: no known safe amount. While breastfeeding, not drinking is safest.
What a standard drink actually is
One standard drink is 341 ml (a regular bottle) of 5% beer, 142 ml (5 oz) of 12% wine, or 43 ml (1.5 oz) of 40% spirits. A 473 ml tallboy of 6.5% craft beer is about 1.8 standard drinks. Most people counting "drinks" are undercounting; the container is not the unit.
Acting on this in Regina
Nobody needs to hit zero overnight for this to matter; moving down one tier is a real risk reduction. For confidential, community-run help cutting down: CMHA Regina (306-525-9543) offers peer-based programming that includes substance use lived experience, Rapid Access Counselling through Family Service Regina is free with no referral or waitlist, and the harm reduction organizations on our map meet people wherever they are, no judgment and no card required.
- Drafted
- 2026-07-19 from the cited public sources
- Review
- awaiting a licensed reviewer in the relevant discipline
- Next review due
- 2027-07-19
- Standard
- General education only, never individual medical advice. See our editorial standard.