Scotlands Drink Culture

Sonea Fifer

Sonea Fifer

Sonea Fifer

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Just been watching our local news and it would appear that the Scottish government is reintroducing a minimum price per unit of alcohol - this will be the same proposal that the SNP MSP's rejected just before the May election during last years Parliament.

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While it is quite clear that not just Scotland but Britain as a whole has an issue with the whole binge drinking culture I'm not sure that minimum unit pricing is the answer to tackling the country's drink problem. It would appear that others are also of the same opinion and others still are questioning the legality of the measure, which has already been labelled by the UK government as 'probably illegal', therefore potentially rendering the bill utterly meaningless." It's not just the fact that they'd be punishing the vast majority of responsible consumers with higher prices which seems a rather dogmatic approach to me. I'm not claiming I know the answer to resolve this problem, but following a research model done in the UK which has borrowed information from various Canadian provinces re price restrictions doesn't strike me as the best way forward in my opinion.

I'm not looking to turn this into an anti Scottish or Scottish/English argument, I just wondered what your individual opinions would be when / if these price restrictions come into play? Also, do you have a better idea on how to fix this Booze Britain culture we're all living in?
 
I think this just about sums it up :

buckfast.jpg
 
Sonea Fifer said:
Just been watching our local news and it would appear that the Scottish government is reintroducing a minimum price per unit of alcohol - this will be the same proposal that the SNP MSP's rejected just before the May election during last years Parliament.
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Err, you've just made that up or got it all horribly wrong.

What you meant to say was "Rejected by everyone except for the SNP MSP Group".

which has already been labelled by the UK government as 'probably illegal'
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And? They huff and puff nonsense all the time. Funny how they aren't calling the same schemes in England illegal isn't it?

Low cost, marketing below cost, and purposefully flooding the market by producers has to end. You can't solve this through pricing alone, it has to be multifacited, but to ignore the arrogance by retailers, producers and the effect it does have on the issue is foolhardy.
 
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Sonea Fifer said:
Also, do you have a better idea on how to fix this Booze Britain culture we're all living in?
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Nope. Drinking is cool and makes you awesome and socially accepted.

Due to that, everyone does it. If you dont drink then people think youre an antisocial lightweight pansy, and your chances of a successful social life become extremely low.
 
The problem with minimum alcohol pricing is that there's absolutely zero evidence it achieves anything and fails to tackle the cause of the problem...
 
I agree with this and don't really care any way, I don't drink in cheap establishments. If it will stop all the kiddies/scum coming out on Student Night/Saturday nights for £1 vodka red bulls then I say bring this legislation to England as well please.
 
It's a problem with society, putting a minimum price on alcohol won't help things. You may find that overall alcohol consumption goes down but I very doubt it will make any difference to the people who this legislation is aimed at. They'll still drink too much and find a cheap enough way to do so.

I know I wouldn't stop if this went through.....
 
Dolph said:
The problem with minimum alcohol pricing is that there's absolutely zero evidence it achieves anything and fails to tackle the cause of the problem...
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It is a great idea actually, you don't know how many idiots I see who don't have a penny and will sit there drinking cheap £1 drinks all night and doing nothing but causing problems, this is usually done by youngsters/chavs who should stay at home because they aren't socially capable to attend any sort of social function or place.
 
A minimum price per unit isn't the answer. Drinking to excess seems ingrained into our culture and if they want that to change they need to look at the more fundamental reasons for this. What they are I'm not sure, but poverty, education, parenting, depression, lack of prospects and the fact that it makes you feel fantastic are probably places to start.
 
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franco_22 said:
£1 vodka red bulls then I say bring this legislation to England as well please.
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Huh? Thats too expensive. When I was a student, there were two clubs that ran a £15 and £10 entry for all you can drink all night long.

The only limit was no double spirits, but single vodka and red bulls, and anything else were all free.
 
bhavv said:
Huh? Thats too expensive. When I was a student, there were two clubs that ran a £15 and £10 entry for all you can drink all night long.

The only limit was no double spirits, but single vodka and red bulls, and anything else were all free.
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And this is exactly why alcohol should be more expensive. I wouldn't mind if they made it £5 per drink if it would stop idiots from coming out.
 
nydryl said:
A minimum price per unit isn't the answer. Drinking to excess seems ingrained into our culture and if they want that to change they need to look at the more fundamental reasons for this. What they are I'm not sure but poverty, education, parenting, lack of prospects and the fact it makes you feel fantastic are probably places to start.
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No one has said it's the holy grail that's the thing.

Only those who are opposed to it tend to do so.

Those other factors do relate to causation, just as much as the availability and cost do. Simple really.
 
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MagicBoy said:
I think this just about sums it up :
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It's weird given the perception but I knew very few people in Scotland who drink Buckfast, occasionally they'll pick it up as a bit of a knowingly self-deprecating manner "look I'm a typical Scotsman getting drunk on Buckfast" style but most wouldn't touch it in the normal run of things.

I've started reading the claimed benefits to the bill on that BBC page and already I disbelieve it, it's far too exact to say there'll be 50 less deaths in the first year, 1,200 fewer hospital admissions etc. I just don't like when people try to quantify things that are so nebulous, if they want to suggest it'll have such benefits then that's fine but don't put a precise number on things you can't properly estimate. The thing about such exactitude is that it makes me question the whole thing rather than accepting the general premise which I might have been more inclined to do otherwise.

As for what the solution to the drinking culture is (starting from the premise that it needs solved), I'd think education is probably the best long term way to sort it. It's something that has taken decades, if not centuries to come to be so it's equally not something that is likely to be removed just by upping the prices of a unit of alcohol - it may help but it's not addressing the root causes.
 
semi-pro waster said:
It's weird given the perception but I knew very few people in Scotland who drink Buckfast, occasionally they'll pick it up as a bit of a knowingly self-deprecating manner "look I'm a typical Scotsman getting drunk on Buckfast" style but most wouldn't touch it in the normal run of things.

I've started reading the claimed benefits to the bill on that BBC page and already I disbelieve it, it's far too exact to say there'll be 50 less deaths in the first year, 1,200 fewer hospital admissions etc. I just don't like when people try to quantify things that are so nebulous, if they want to suggest it'll have such benefits then that's fine but don't put a precise number on things you can't properly estimate.
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And if you can't quantify the effect of legislation isn't it open to similar contentions on the flip side? "A policy no one can measure"?

It isn't just alcohol that is equated to hospital admissions and deaths etc. Governments generally work statistically and not on guess work.

semi-pro waster said:
As for what the solution to the drinking culture is (starting from the premise that it needs solved), I'd think education is probably the best long term way to sort it. It's something that has taken decades, if not centuries to come to be so it's equally not something that is likely to be removed just by upping the prices of a unit of alcohol - it may help but it's not addressing the root causes.
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How would think that education should be formed or structured?

It will not solve the problem alone I'm not sure where this repeated comment comes from; it will make inroads however and also release pressure on the externalities. Ie Taxpayers paying for other peoples selfishness and lack of control.
 
franco_22 said:
And this is exactly why alcohol should be more expensive. I wouldn't mind if they made it £5 per drink if it would stop idiots from coming out.
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It wouldnt stop them, the students would still go out and drink at those prices.

On non all you can drink days (it was only on wednesday in one place, sunday in another with early 2 am closing), the students did pay £5 per drink if not more.

They squander all their student loan, overdraft, and part time job money on booze, and then wonder where the heck I got my money from to build a high end uber PC.

Also I remember one of my flatmates and his GF didnt do much clubbing / drinking out, but instead they bought loads of cheap wines from supermarkets to taste and drink with different wine bottles all the time. Still getting drunk and spending money, but for a lot less cost.
 
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Biohazard said:
No one has said it's the holy grail that's the thing.

Only those who are opposed to it tend to do.

Those other factors do relate to causation, just as much as the availability and cost do. Simple really.
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I appreciate it isn't being hailed as a solve-all solution, but the impact will likely be so negligible that it feels like a very naive attempt to sort out our alcohol issues. If people really want to drink then they will, regardless of the cost. This measure is meant to be the SNP standing up to and tackling Scotland's alcohol problems - to me it doesn't feel like that at all. It's a weak proposal that will do nothing to alter the way we approach drinking. Admittedly I'm not sure what the best way to go about changing our drinking habits is, but this certainly isn't it. Is it even worthwhile? Probably not.
 
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