With Hogmanay hours away, think on. Every 40 seconds one person comes into an A&E department in a UK hospital with a drink related problem., on average.

If you’re unlucky enough to have a heart attack on a Friday night your chances of being treated in time are a lot thinner than you’d wish. You’ll inevitably bve a long way down a long queue.

This is only one of the social costs of the binge drinking that is fuelled by cheap alcohol. Perhaps we will think of the situation less tolerantly if we measure the cost of this phenomenon less in monetary terms than in relation to our own chances of survival in an emergency and in competition with a drunken mob.

Responsible drinkers will pay the minimum price because they they savour the glassful rather than chuck down a line-up which, in rugby parlance, will shortly be a line-out. They enjoy the quality of what they drink, not the quantity.

The single malt whisky industry, for example, whose products are already beyond the minimum price, will suffer no loss.

The wipe-out brigade – who don’t go in for top of the market drink – will either reduce their intake of cheap vodka and alcopops (the purpose of the proposed measure) or adopt economies elsewhere in order to pay for it.

If this is the route they take, the added tax revenue will at least contribute to the cost of repairing their broken bodies and hosing down the streets and public amenities after them.

The British Medical Association (BMA) Scottish Council has just backed the Scottish Government’s intention to introduce a Bill to apply minimum pricing controls to alcohol. Dr Brian Keighley, the Chairman of the BMA Scottish Council, has indicated support for the proposals.

Argyll’s MSP, Jim Mather, is pleased with the news, seeing it as yet another indicator of the need for the opposition parties to consider their position. They oppose the policy but offer no alternative in the fight against the misuse of alcohol.

Mr Mather says: ‘Dr Keighley’s intervention on behalf of the British Medical Association Scotland (BMAS) is welcome and timely. The problem that we have in Scotland with alcohol misuse is alarming and the negative and oppositionist approach of what the BBC is pleased to style ‘the main parties’ to the Scottish Government’s proposals is particularly dispiriting.

‘The scale of the problem is beyond dispute : 42,000 alcohol related hospital discharges per annum,1,500 deaths per year, soaring rates of liver cirrhosis, the eighth highest per capita consumption in the world  and a £2.25 billion annual cost to public services and lost productivity. Personal costs and family misery cannot be quantified.

‘Minimum pricing is not a cure all, a silver bullet, but part of a wider move to educate and deter and control the abuse of alcohol. Minimum pricing will not affect average and responsible drinkers but will challenge retailers who target customers with cheap booze offers.

‘Support for minimum pricing is broad based and growing- the police, health professionals, the licenced trade, the British Liver Trust and the four Chief Medical Officers across the UK have all indicated approval. All political parties must get behind that consensus and back a policy that will save lives, cut crime and help to improve the quality of life. Continued opposition on party lines looks increasingly irresponsible and indefensible.’

This is a timely message for tonight of all nights – and for the coming weekend. It’s not a case of not drinking. It’s a case of drinking judiciously, not drinking and driving and saving on laundry bills.