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As access to alcohol has increased in Ontario, so has the number of people landing in hospital emergency departments for alcohol-related causes, according to a study released Friday.

And a further expansion of alcohol sales announced by the Ford government this week will likely result in more alcohol-related harms, says the study’s main author.

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The study, published in the journal Addiction, comes out just as the provincial government is preparing to expand beer and wine sales to corner stores, something long debated in the province.

Finance Minister Vic Fedeli made the announcement Thursday, saying it is time for the government “to treat people like responsible adults.”

Photo by MARK BLINCH / THE CANADIAN PRESS

Beer and wine sales, he said, would be expanded to corner stores, big box outlets and more grocery stores across the province.

But Dr. Daniel Myran, a public health resident at the University of Ottawa and lead author of the study looking at the association between alcohol access and alcohol-attributable emergency department visits in Ontario, said he expects further expansion of alcohol sales in the province to “lead to more emergency department visits due to alcohol.”