Minimum price for alcohol is not the answer

Like many people I have first hand experience of loosing a beloved family member to alcoholism.

To my my mind she had suffered an illness in the same way others suffer from cancer.

Was it preventable?I don't know but I do believe the  price of alcohol  once    you become an alcoholic is not a deterrent.

There is an argument that some people should not drink alcohol in the first place.

Certainly if we were to  use the criteria we apply to drugs there would be a case  that alcohol  would face a higher category than say cannabis.

So I am not sure that the Welsh government plans to introduce a law to set a minimum price for selling alcohol in Wales is  a solution.

The argument admittedly is strong.

As the BBC reports

 
Ministers believe tackling excessive drinking could save a life a week and mean 1,400 fewer hospital admissions a year.
Pricing is seen as a "missing link" in public health efforts, alongside better awareness and treatment.
Under a 50p-a-unit formula, a typical can of cider would be at least £1 and a bottle of wine at least £4.69.
A typical litre of vodka, for example, would have to cost more than £20.
The Welsh Government has not yet decided what the price will be, however.

Alcohol experts from Sheffield University have studied the health picture, drinks market and consumption patterns in Wales.
The research has helped produce a formula based on the percentage strength of the alcohol and its volume to develop the minimum unit price (MUP).
While alcohol consumption levels have been falling in recent years, health officials are concerned that:

• Binge drinking is still a problem with young people; there is also an issue with the over-50s
• There were 463 alcohol-related deaths in Wales in 2015-16
• There were 54,000 alcohol-related hospital admissions

Cheap drink in supermarkets and other licensed stores is the main target and the law will also address the issue of special offers in its fine detail.
Alcohol sold below 50p per unit makes up 72% of the beer sales in Welsh shops and supermarkets, 78% of the cider sales, 42% of the wine and 66% of the spirits.

The research suggests that although high-risk drinkers make up only a quarter of people who drink alcohol, they drink 72% of all alcohol consumed and account for 65% of all spending.
"There is a very clear and direct link between levels of excessive drinking and the availability of cheap alcohol," said Public Health Minister Rebecca Evans.
"So we need to take decisive action now to address the affordability of alcohol, as part of wider efforts to tackle alcohol-related harm."
It has been claimed it could:

• Save the NHS £6.5m a year by reducing the impact on hospitals
• Boost the Welsh economy by £44m a year by reducing workplace absence and crime.
• Researchers said 42% of the alcohol bought by high-risk drinkers in poverty is of the cheaper variety - against 21% for moderate drinkers in poverty.
• But officials believe more affluent high-risk drinkers will also respond to price changes and they insisted it was not a tax but a tool to change behaviour.

Chief Medical Officer Dr Frank Atherton said they were not the "fun police" or the "nanny state" but they could not wash their hands of a significant public health issue.

"It will have a small impact on moderate drinkers," 
"The most substantial effects will be experienced by harmful and hazardous drinkers, who are more likely to consume cheaper and higher-strength alcohol products."

But Alex Loveland, a recovering alcoholic who supports people with dependency, is worried that it will not help them.

"They're going to try to get alcohol by any means necessary and I think it will put more strain on very underprivileged people," .

 The Welsh Retail Consortium has also expressed concern that minimum price may hit less affluent, moderate consumers of alcohol "whilst not necessarily having the desired impact on problem drinkers".

To some extent i find myself in agreement  UKIP Wales leader Neil Hamilton AM said it was another example of the Welsh Government "sticking its nose into people's private lives".

"The problem is not alcohol but anti-social behaviour," he said. "The laws on public drunkenness need to be strictly enforced, as they used to be."

But Prof Mark Bellis, director of policy at Public Health Wales, said it would reduce opportunities for young people to buy alcohol "at pocket money prices".


But that  will not make a difference to to rich Yobs like members of the notorious Bullingdon Club -based in Oxford. which as always been noted for its wealthy members, grand banquets and boisterous rituals, such as vandalising ('trashing') of restaurants and college rooms, complemented by a tradition of on-the-spot payment for damage.

The next generation of David Cameron, former Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne, former Mayor of London, current Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and Nick Hurd, current Minister of State for Policing and the Fire Services clones will be free to carry out drunken behaviour knowing full well that they will not face the consequences of the law and damage to their future in the same way working class youths be.

I admit I don't know what  the solution is maybe minimum may well make some difference  but will the poorest members of our society who drink reasonably  be the only ones who are affected.