Letter: Drink price plan will not help children

An alcoholic or drug addict will not change because of price; they will always find a way. They will forever be on the lookout for the next drink or fix and superficial solutions like cost will not deter their need for the drug.

We must treat this problem at its source. The care and treatment of children must be a priority. Children who are not treated well are the criminals and gang members of the future.

The care, stability and love must be done by kinship care, for example by grandparents, whose only concern is their welfare and love for the children. Forced adoption or farming out to people or institutions seldom caters for the whole of children's needs.

We are convinced this government is ignoring the best interests of the child. When it came into power Grandparents Apart UK was summoned to a meeting with the children's minister and we asked questions but got no answers.

The government then placed the responsibility for the Charter for Grandchildren on the local authorities. SNP MSPs who were taking up the cause for Charter for Grandchildren backed off because we work in the child's best interest and not theirs.

Children are the future and it is everyone's responsibility if you want to sleep safer in your beds at night.

Jimmy Deuchars

Grandparents Apart UK

Alness Crescent

Glasgow

The opposition parties are acting irresponsibly over the Scottish Government's proposals to introduce a minimum alcohol price of 45p per unit, and this just seems to be another example of the typical behaviour in Scottish politics where the unionist parties go out of their way to oppose whatever the SNP says.

Labour's health spokesperson, Jackie Baillie MSP, said minimum alcohol pricing is a bad idea because it has not been tried and tested yet. With all due respect to her, saying an idea is not tried and tested is simply not a good enough reason for not giving it a chance to see if it works or not.

The Labour MSP stated that it would be lining the pockets of supermarkets. There is little evidence to back this up and the likely outcome is that buyers will move away from the very cheap brands to more mainstream brands of alcohol which are less affected or unaffected by the minimum unit price, and the shops would then remove the cheap brands from their shelves. There would probably be little effect one way or the other on supermarket profits.

She also said the police or NHS would not receive one penny of the increased price or benefit in any way. Both the police and the NHS, as well as families across Scotland, have to deal with the consequences of alcohol abuse on a daily basis at great financial and human cost.There definitely would be a great benefit to these public services and people's lives, of even a small reduction in alcohol consumption across the nation.

Jackie Baillie forgot to mention that a very similar minimum pricing scheme to the Scottish Government's is being proposed by some of her own party colleagues in Greater Manchester. Does she also disagree with it being introduced down there? Meanwhile, the Lib Dems object because they believe there should be a UK-wide solution. However, the Scottish Government does not have any powers over alcohol tax duties, which is a reserved matter to Westminster, or have any powers south of the Border.

The Lib Dem point, while well intentioned, is not part of the solution to the problem the SNP ministers are trying to deal with in Scotland.

Finally, the minimum pricing scheme might just encourage people back into pubs again rather than drinking at home, and this can only be a good thing when so many of them have been closing down recently.

Paul Donaldson

Balnacoul Road

Mosstodloch, Moray

So A price of 45p per unit of alcohol in cheap drink will supposedly save the lives of 50 people a year (your report, 2 September). But just whose lives are to be saved? Certainly not those of the most harmonious and productive members of our society.

Malcolm Parkin

Gamekeepers Road

Kinnesswood, Kinross