Mev Brown: The Answer to booze crisis is in our cells

With a minimum alcohol price rejected as a way to deal with problem drinkers, Mev Brown has a solution: throw them in jail

The SNP's flagship Alcohol Bill was heavily watered down last week when Unionist parties torpedoed the 45p per unit minimum price on booze. That left Scots with a serious hangover.

Experts warn the remaining reforms will not be enough to cut the social cost of alcohol in Scotland. And our problem with alcohol is expensive by any standards.

The overall cost to our economy and society is estimated at around 3.5 billion per year, and growing.

Faced with such an issue, and with no viable proposals of their own, Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon had hoped in vain that the opposition would put aside party politics and support her plans.

Minimum pricing does have its supporters but my view is that there is a certain innocence in thinking that minimum pricing will prompt problem drinkers to change their ways, start drinking sensibly and become all-round good eggs.

One clue to this flawed thinking is that minimum pricing would not affect Buckfast, which is synonymous with neds and antisocial behaviour. A second clue is in the nave thought that all problem drinkers pay for their alcohol.

Minimum pricing would have lead to increased shoplifting and activity by organised crime gangs to meet the new demand for black market, low-priced alcohol.

It never ceases to surprise me that politicians rarely consider the law of unintended consequences when they debate new legislation.

Our esteemed parliamentarians have been scratching their collective heads for years and have so far drawn a blank.

If anything, there is a growing acceptance of alcohol abuse as part of our society.

In recent years, there has been a flood of police reality TV shows where camera crews are embedded with the police and depict the drunken chaos on our streets.

We have all cringed at unconscious revellers in embarrassing poses. We've chuckled at the hilarious drunken conversations with police officers. We've been horrified at the vandalism and the drunken brawls. It may be entertainment, but at a cost of 3.5bn a year?

Everybody recognises the need for something to be done, but what? Well, in the good old days when I was a student, everybody knew that being lifted for being drunk and incapable meant spending the night in the cells.

And, heaven forbid, if you were involved in a brawl you knew you would be in the cells for the weekend and up in front of a sheriff on Monday morning.

In the 1980s, that was how the police dealt with the problem. But in those days Edinburgh police had a cell capacity of 200. A recent Freedom of Information request shows that the city's police cell capacity was slashed to just 70 during the last Labour council.

Edinburgh has a population of half a million, with a vibrant nightlife. But now the police must be picky about who they arrest.

On a typical weekend, and assuming the cells are all empty on Friday afternoon, Edinburgh police can only arrest 23 offenders a night. On a bank holiday weekend that number drops to just 17.

Today's problem drinkers know they can cause mayhem on the streets and either walk away or get an on-the-spot fine, which has a 50 per cent chance of getting paid. No wonder the current soft-touch regime doesn't work.

We need to get serious about this problem. We need a "back to the future" policy.

Edinburgh needs a cell capacity of 200 and we need a return to the old ways of tackling the problem - chuck 'em in the cells.

Many MSPs will say that in the current economic climate it is not possible to reintroduce a tough regime. I would remind those MSPs of the annual cost of not tackling the issue - around 3.5bn.

The police, too, will have concerns - about staffing and paying for such an expanded capacity, as well as having valid worries about providing medical supervision.

Many will recall that the city council looked at a drunk-tank idea a few years ago. But the best solution would be a hybrid drunk-tank/police cell facility with a multi-disciplinary team staffed by the police, NHS and civilian support staff.

The new facility should also be paid for by those that use it via court fines. For those in employment they could pay by credit or debit card or have their wages arrested. For those on benefits a mechanism similar to a crisis loan could be set up and fines would be collected from the Benefits Agency.

The SNP policy intended to make alcohol expensive for those who abuse it. My policy still achieves that goal, but in a different way.

Further, this policy will have no impact on law abiding citizens - with the possible exception of fewer police reality TV shows.

• Mev Brown will be an independent candidate in next year's Scottish parliamentary elections.

Old time revellers' exploits often set the wheels in motion

IN Victorian days sozzled city revellers arrested after bouts of overindulgence could be carted to the cells on the back of a wooden barrow.

This example (pictured left), which can still be found at the entrance to Lothian and Borders Police HQ in Fettes, was employed to convey arrested Leith drunkards to safe custody.

Due to its general purpose, the cart was informally christened the "Drunks Barrow".