We read in the Telegraph today (here) that the Prime Minister has instigated plans to introduce minimum pricing on the sale of alcohol.
Whilst such a move will undoubtedly be welcomed by some health professionals, and warmly so by the patronising, preaching nanny statists, it is difficult to see this as little more than an eye-catching gimmick which will achieve little in the way of public health improvements or a curtailing of problem drinking.
Whilst ‘problem drinking’ and ‘preventable deaths’ are easy and emotive phrases to bandy about, I fear we are trying to come up with solutions before we have fully understood the root causes of the problem.
Whilst there have been well publicised and extreme cases of nightclubs retailing alcohol at ridiculously low prices, inviting partygoers to‘drink all you can’ for a fixed price, these are very much the exception rather than the rule.
Minimum pricing will have no impact at all on those individuals that believe their alcohol intake on a Saturday night to be directly proportional to their masculinity, who in the main already pay way above the likely level of any minimum price in their quest to prove their manliness.
We also seem to fall in to the trap of assuming that those who abuse alcohol only buy the cheapest alcohol available to them, and then only because it’s cheap; that we can price alcoholism out of peoples’ reach. The notion that we can tax addicts into kicking their habit is breathtakingly misconceived.
Any solution to ‘problem drinking’ must be centred on the tried and tested approach of education, education, education. No, it won’t give you a sexy headline; it won’t give you overnight results; but it will work.
The Telegraph also reports today that of the quarter of the population which is clinically obese, over 40% thought they were a “healthy” weight. It also reports that even a substantial number of health professionals cannot tell the difference between a healthy weight and an unhealthy one.
As the National Obesity Forum calls for the better education of pupils about the dangers of obesity, I await next year’s inevitable plans for the minimum pricing of fatty foods with baited breath…
Whilst such a move will undoubtedly be welcomed by some health professionals, and warmly so by the patronising, preaching nanny statists, it is difficult to see this as little more than an eye-catching gimmick which will achieve little in the way of public health improvements or a curtailing of problem drinking.
Whilst ‘problem drinking’ and ‘preventable deaths’ are easy and emotive phrases to bandy about, I fear we are trying to come up with solutions before we have fully understood the root causes of the problem.
Whilst there have been well publicised and extreme cases of nightclubs retailing alcohol at ridiculously low prices, inviting partygoers to‘drink all you can’ for a fixed price, these are very much the exception rather than the rule.
Minimum pricing will have no impact at all on those individuals that believe their alcohol intake on a Saturday night to be directly proportional to their masculinity, who in the main already pay way above the likely level of any minimum price in their quest to prove their manliness.
We also seem to fall in to the trap of assuming that those who abuse alcohol only buy the cheapest alcohol available to them, and then only because it’s cheap; that we can price alcoholism out of peoples’ reach. The notion that we can tax addicts into kicking their habit is breathtakingly misconceived.
Any solution to ‘problem drinking’ must be centred on the tried and tested approach of education, education, education. No, it won’t give you a sexy headline; it won’t give you overnight results; but it will work.
The Telegraph also reports today that of the quarter of the population which is clinically obese, over 40% thought they were a “healthy” weight. It also reports that even a substantial number of health professionals cannot tell the difference between a healthy weight and an unhealthy one.
As the National Obesity Forum calls for the better education of pupils about the dangers of obesity, I await next year’s inevitable plans for the minimum pricing of fatty foods with baited breath…
3 comments:
There are elements of the nanny state that abuse the responsibility we endow our politicians with. This is an idiotic move too far. Probably not the last but possibly one of the most irritating.
It seems politicians are far too eager to put themselves forward as purveyors of scientific truth whilst doing little if anything to ensure real science is properly supported: http://www.indexoncensorship.org/darkmatter/
Personal experience shows that many 'problem drinkers' steal the booze they drink. Minimum pricing will not impact them at all.
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