Occasional Ramblings

With the  alcohol commission set up by the Labour Party in Scotland due to publish its final report it begs the question, why have they wasted time and money on looking at alternatives to the Scottish National Party's ( SNP ) idea of minimum pricing?

Labour and the other opposition parties say that minimum pricing with penalise moderate drinkers and that more information on sensible drinking is one of the better alternatives. but it is absolute nonsense to say that moderate drinkers will be the ones to suffer from such a policy. let's look at some facts.

If we take the last thirty or so years and look at the multitude of initiatives that various Governments, Councils and other agencies have introduced to inform people of the dangers of irresponsible drinking, of drug use and of under age sex it is plain to see that they have had little or no effect in any of these areas. There has been more information available in that time than there has ever been before and yet it does not change people's habits.

It is the same with any self regulation, if it is not to someone's advantage they will not do it. By the very nature of people they have to be forced to change. And this is where minimum pricing comes in.

If someone has a finite amount of money to spend on alcohol then setting a minimum price means that they will be able to buy less with their money therefore cutting the amount they will be drinking. It makes sense.

As for the moderate drinker, as they are not drinking a lot anyway then any increase in the price of drink is not going to make a big dent in their finances. If it does then i would suggest that they are not moderate drinkers, but are in fact drinking more than is good for them.

So the opposition parties should listen to everyone else who thinks that minimum pricing is the answer - these include the Police, the medical profession and drinks companies - and join them in having it implemented rather than trying to score political points. It is too important an issue for that.