Article content

There was a moment during Thursday night’s Ottawa Public Health board meeting where Dr. Isra Levy, the medical officer of health, couldn’t hold back on Ottawa’s penchant for boozing:

“I have said repeatedly over the years, I’m not a prohibitionist. I get called a prohibitionist when I talk about the fact people end up dead because of alcohol.”

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or City hall blog: Top doc struggles with Ottawa's alcohol "crisis" Back to video

On the table was a report by the health unit exposing the ugly results of people’s overdrinking in the nation’s capital.

Things don’t look good in Ottawa – 20 emergency room visits daily, 15 court appearances daily, five hospitalizations daily, a death every three days, all related to alcohol – but the health unit is up against a society that wants more access to booze.

Levy said the health unit feels “futile,” especially when people think health experts are trying to limit their freedoms.

“In a different kind of context this would be sensationalist, front-page tabloid, and serious communication to the community as a major crisis,” Levy said.

“The reason I’m not calling in the crisis unit is that when I do, I get treated with a mixture of contempt and bewilderment.”