Are price rises an effective remedy for Scotland's drink-induced headaches?

Published on Tuesday 3 March 2009 20:17

Policy-makers in Westminster would do well to follow the Scottish government's lead in placing a minimum price on a unit of alcohol (your report, 2 March).

While some, especially those connected to the drinks industry, may complain about the "nanny state", it is a fact that alcohol misuse costs the taxpayer billions every year in terms of health, social disorder, crime and policing, giving the state a strong ethical justification to intervene.

Research has demonstrated clearly that increasing the price of alcohol is one of the most effective ways of cutting consumption. The benefits to be gained, at the cost of an extra few pence for a beer or a whisky, are potentially huge.

HUGH WHITTALL

Director, Nuffield Council on Bioethics

Bedford Square

London

The rise in taxes for alcohol in Scotland makes no sense at all. The fact that overall alcohol consumption has risen while prices have dropped proves nothing. If price is the issue, why does Scotland have a worse problem with alcohol than England, although the prices are the same? Why does northern Europe have a much more severe problem than southern Europe, although alcohol is dead cheap down there? This is about drinking culture, not price.

Moreover, if the Scottish Government is so convinced that price is the issue, why is it so half-hearted about increasing taxes? If the tax rise makes a difference of 100 per year or 2 a week to the severe problem drinker, this tax rise will be about as effective as the drop of 2p on the VAT was on the economy.

So what is this tax rise about: plain misunderstanding of cause and effect, or mere political posturing?

CHRISTIANE MAHER

Netherlaw

North Berwick, East Lothian

Nicola Sturgeon, the deputy first minister, proposes setting high minimum prices for alcoholic drinks in a bid to solve Scotland's binge-drinking problem. Once again, the law-abiding majority are being penalised because the authorities cannot cope with the law-breaking minority.

Now we have people who like an occasional glass of wine with a meal being forced to pay more because uncontrolled teenagers drink cheap booze to excess.

Instead of penalising the law-abiding majority, the authorities would be better employed reorganising our police forces to get more police officers on the beat and out on our streets and public places, especially in the evenings from Thursday to Sunday, clamping down on underage and teenage drinking and drug-taking.

Leave the drinks industry and the ordinary shopper alone. Get the police out on the streets, use court powers to the full and tackle the real problem – the growing lawlessness of the minority sub-culture in our midst.

GEORGE K McMILLAN

Mount Tabor Avenue

Perth

Living just a 30-minute drive from Berwick, I am feeling very smug at the prospect of the Scottish Government's imposition of a minimum price for alcohol. I have always resented the ease with which residents of Kent could nip across the channel to obtain cheap booze. Luckily, it's a still shorter hop across the Tweed.

HAMISH SCOTT

Drylaw Terrace

East Linton, East Lothian