Alcohol
The English public are hostile to a minimum price for alcoholic drinks based on the amount of alcohol they contain, a reform regarded by experts as one of the most effective ways of attacking alcohol abuse.
A survey carried out by Alcohol Research UK, a new charity launched today in London, shows that people are sceptical about minimum pricing and think wrongly that it would raise prices for sensible drinkers.
Speaking yesterday at the British Science Festival, Professor Martin Hogger of Curtin University in Australia, who carried out the survey, said: “Excessive alcohol consumption costs the UK £7.3 billion per year. Governments have tried to solve this problem by putting up alcohol duties, but that puts up all prices equally.”
Hogger says that instead of this approach, support needs to be built for a minimum price per unit of alcohol. This would mainly affect cheap drink such as white cider, as well as special offers in supermarkets and cheap drinks options such as Happy Hours.
He told the Festival: “We know that most alcohol harm occurs among people drinking too much cheap drink. If we had a minimum alcohol price of 50p per unit you would save £9.7 billion per year in treatment and other costs.”
Alcohol Research UK plans to study what happens in Scotland if a planned minimum price of 45p per unit is introduced there.
Sir Ian Gilmore of Royal Liverpool University Hospital told the Festival that three per cent of the adult male population of the city are admitted to his hospital each year for alcohol-related conditions. “Unlike smoking,” he said, “alcohol kills people in their productive years. Alcohol-related conditions are the main cause of death among young men, and deaths from alcohol peak among 54-64 year olds.”
He added that setting a unit price for alcohol is not a “tax on the poor.” He said: “Low alcohol prices mean that moderate drinkers and non-drinkers are subsidising people who drink a lot, because supermarkets use cheap alcohol to tempt people in.”
Professor Robin Davidson of Queen’s University Belfast, chairman of Alcohol Research UK, told the Festival that the new charity will have up to £1 million a year for research and is looking for new funds. “We plan to do high-quality research that makes a difference and that does not sit in journals,” he said.
The new organisation is at
www.alcoholresearchuk.org
A survey carried out by Alcohol Research UK, a new charity launched today in London, shows that people are sceptical about minimum pricing and think wrongly that it would raise prices for sensible drinkers.
Speaking yesterday at the British Science Festival, Professor Martin Hogger of Curtin University in Australia, who carried out the survey, said: “Excessive alcohol consumption costs the UK £7.3 billion per year. Governments have tried to solve this problem by putting up alcohol duties, but that puts up all prices equally.”
Hogger says that instead of this approach, support needs to be built for a minimum price per unit of alcohol. This would mainly affect cheap drink such as white cider, as well as special offers in supermarkets and cheap drinks options such as Happy Hours.
He told the Festival: “We know that most alcohol harm occurs among people drinking too much cheap drink. If we had a minimum alcohol price of 50p per unit you would save £9.7 billion per year in treatment and other costs.”
Alcohol Research UK plans to study what happens in Scotland if a planned minimum price of 45p per unit is introduced there.
Sir Ian Gilmore of Royal Liverpool University Hospital told the Festival that three per cent of the adult male population of the city are admitted to his hospital each year for alcohol-related conditions. “Unlike smoking,” he said, “alcohol kills people in their productive years. Alcohol-related conditions are the main cause of death among young men, and deaths from alcohol peak among 54-64 year olds.”
He added that setting a unit price for alcohol is not a “tax on the poor.” He said: “Low alcohol prices mean that moderate drinkers and non-drinkers are subsidising people who drink a lot, because supermarkets use cheap alcohol to tempt people in.”
Professor Robin Davidson of Queen’s University Belfast, chairman of Alcohol Research UK, told the Festival that the new charity will have up to £1 million a year for research and is looking for new funds. “We plan to do high-quality research that makes a difference and that does not sit in journals,” he said.
The new organisation is at
www.alcoholresearchuk.org
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