Today is the first day of Alcohol Awareness Week. Argyll’s MSP, Jim Mather sees this as a good moment to reflect on the true cost of alcohol misuse to Scotland.
He says: ‘It is not just our criminal justice that is affected, although the effect there is obvious. It costs our wider society a staggering total of £2.25 billion per annum. Our health service is overrun and our economy undermined. It is for this reason that the Scottish Government is committed to changing Scotland’s unhealthy relationship with alcohol.
‘Led by my colleague, Cabinet Secretary for Justice, Kenny MacAskill MSP, we make no apology for seeking to tackle this most major of social issues in our land. Minimum pricing is a ‘key weapon’ which recent University of Sheffield research shows, together with a ban on quantity discount promotions, could make a sizeable dent in Scotland’s alcohol misuse problem.
‘I note that Scotland’s largest licensees’ group, the Scottish Licensed Trade Association (SLTA) is endorsing this move’.
Jim Mather points out that Argyll and Bute stands to save £1.66 million per year from minimum pricing. He is emphatic – as we have independently reported and detailed - that the measure will not adversely affect the important whisky export market.
Mr Mather says, however, that the move: ‘.. is aimed at harmful drinkers. Alcohol-related deaths would fall by about 70 in the first year and 365 per year by the 10th year of the policy. This is a reduction of nearly 19 %.
‘When a 2 litre bottle of high strength cider costs less in some outlets than a similarly sized bottle of water, the need for regulation is obvious. Selling alcohol is not a right. It carries a substantial responsibility.
‘All the opposition parties recognise the problems alcohol brings but none offer solutions to those problems. The Government’s policy agenda chimes with what people in a forward looking Scotland want.
‘Together with Mike Mackenzie, the SNP Prospective Westminster Parliamentary Candidate for Argyll and Bute, I have held sessions with many sectors of the economy in Argyll and Bute, brought together to investigate the better managing and marketing of the area. Many of these can greatly benefit from the tackling of the cost drain of alcohol misuse’.
Raising the minimum price of alcohol is worth trying . However, one effect of increasing the price of drink could be to increase criminal activity to pay for the drink . We should never forget that alcohol is addictive .
However, to really tackle the alcohol problem in Scotland we would need a huge amount of honesty . Much more honesty than we can expect either our politicians or the Scottish Licensed Trade Association to apply to such an emotive issue .
The two critical questions that need to be properly explored are 1) Is there really such thing as the responsible consumer of alcohol ? and 2) Is there really such a thing as the responsible trader in alcohol ?
As long as we assume that responsible drinking and responsible selling of alcohol is possible ( indeed, some claim it is presently the norm ) we are handicapping ourselves in our efforts to solve this problem which has blighted our society for so long .
If Scotland’s alcohol problem is ever to be fully dealt with it will be up to us, the Scottish people, rather than our politicians and the likes of the licensed traders to really get to grips with it . Only time will tell if we ourselves have the required honesty .
Like or Dislike:
0 
0