Irvine Welsh targets cheap booze

Published on Saturday 21 November 2009 20:00

HE DEFINED Scotland's generation of 1980s drugs excess. Now Irvine Welsh has set his sights on perhaps the nation's most widely available drug – cheap booze.

The Trainspotting author last night called on politicians "to stand up and be counted" and end the bargain-basement prices that have seen overall Scottish consumption of alcohol double in his lifetime.

Welsh, who has in the past admitted to using heroin and Ecstasy, stressed heavy drinking in Scotland could no longer be simply written off as a long-standing cultural problem.

He said: "More people, younger people and more women than ever before are at risk from being encouraged to over-consume this drug.

"This has an incalculable impact on the NHS and also on our social services through the pressure illness and harmful drinking puts on families."

The writer last night effectively lent his support to the medical professionals behind the Scottish Government's drive to impose minimum prices for alcoholic beverages and end the cut-price bargains available in supermarkets. Legislation is expected within the next few weeks. Welsh

said: "Cheap bevvy is part of the culture. We know that the price and availability of alcohol products have a strong relationship to the amount of alcohol consumed.

"This is a major social issue and needs to be tackled as such by our politicians, and this should transcend the concerns of those in the alcohol industry who feel their profitability will be compromised. Now politicians should stand up and be counted and move us on to a new era where how much we drink will not be determined by the alcohol industry lobby."

Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems (Shaap) yesterday, with the backing of the licensed trades association, launched a campaign to scotch the myth that Scots have always drunk as much as they do now.

Chairman Dr Bruce Ritson said: "If we look at how attitudes have changed, aided by legislation on seat belts, drink driving and smoking, it's clear that culture can change.

"Today we have a culture of cheap alcohol which has led to over-consumption and alcohol-related deaths increasing by 150 per cent in a generation."

Welsh stressed the role poverty has played in fuelling the current crisis. He and Shaap, however, have yet to convince politicians to impose a minimum price on alcohol, probably 40p per unit, the most controversial proposal in the Scottish Alcohol Bill, which is to be published later this month.

Manufacturers, however, insist SNP policies would fall foul of the law.

The Scotch Whisky Association last week signed up for a scheme to put health warnings on all bottles as it lobbied hard against minimum pricing.