Alcohol Help

Plans to demonize alcohol in Scotland won’t solve the nation’s alcohol problems, the UK’s leading drinks companies are warning today.

Attempting to tackle problems by raising prices or restricting availability would be untargeted, unfair and likely to be ineffective.

In its response to the Scottish Government’s alcohol consultation, the Portman Group, the social responsibility body for UK drinks producers, says that countries adopting a similar approach have failed to achieve any significant reduction in alcohol misuse.

David Poley, Chief Executive of the Portman Group, said:

“The myth is that levels of drinking and alcohol misuse are worse in Scotland than elsewhere in the UK. In reality, Scots drink less than people in the rest of Britain and are no more likely to be drinking harmfully.

“Problems of alcohol misuse in Scotland will not be solved by turning alcohol into a social taboo and demonizing drink. There is a considerable risk that this would actually increase the appeal of alcohol to young people in particular.

“Setting a minimum price for alcohol would penalise hard-working Scots. People who claim that low prices are to blame for misuse among children miss the point; it is illegal for under-18s to buy alcohol. A sustained programme of enforcement activity will tackle this problem. It makes far more sense to enforce the current law robustly than to raise the legal purchase age.

“Education has made a huge difference to drink driving in the UK, changing both attitudes and behaviour significantly over the last 30 years. Education campaigns and hard-hitting advertisements, combined with robust enforcement of the law, changed the culture. Consequently, the number of people killed in drink-drive accidents each year has fallen by two-thirds. Education can have a similar impact on our harmful drinking culture, provided that it is combined with proper enforcement of the law.”

The Portman Group