Letter: Alcohol pricing

IN HIS attack on proposals to set a minimum unit price for alcohol (Platform, 24 March), Tom Miers employs some rather dodgy arguments.

For example, he asserts that the natural logic of a policy of raising the price of alcohol to curb excessive consumption is to progress to total prohibition. What utter rubbish.

Just because you believe that the easy availability of vodka and cider at rock-bottom prices is one of the factors encouraging alcohol misuse doesn't mean that you want to prevent people drinking alcohol altogether.

It is a matter of balance and in this country most doctors, police officers and all others who daily have to deal with the consequences of alcohol misuse think that at present the balance is wrong.

Then Mr Miers argues that increasing the price of cheap alcohol simply punishes the vast majority of people who consume alcohol responsibly.

I accept that most drinkers do not end up on the wrong side of the law, but the proportion of our adult population drinking well in excess of recommended limits is very much greater.

This is why serious illness due to alcohol is increasing so steeply. The facts show responsible drinkers would be scarcely affected at all by the imposition of a minimum unit price as proposed in the last session of the Scottish Parliament. Of course, heavy drinkers might feel the pinch but that would be the point, wouldn't it?

In the UK, about 70 per cent of all our alcohol is sold by supermarkets. As these retailers regard the price of alcohol as a key determinant in attracting shoppers into their stores it is in their interests to keep prices low.

As they can look at alcohol as a mere part of the total spend in a store it is possible to offset, at least in part, increases in taxes imposed by central government and be content with a relatively small profit on alcohol in the knowledge that customers will purchase other items that have a much higher profit margin.

A minimum unit price, however, could not be by-passed so easily. And while price is by no means the only factor in Scotland's unhealthy relationship with alcohol, it does play a part. Ignoring the effect of price on alcohol consumption is not a sign of a responsible society as argued by Mr Miers, it is a sign of a society ignoring its responsibilities.

(Dr) IAN McKEE

Fernielaw Avenue

Edinburgh