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Comment: Ministers' blame for booze culture
Evening Standard22 Jul 2008
Ministers' response to today's warning on alcohol abuse in Britain is disappointing - but predictable. A new study has found that cut-price supermarket deals on wine and spirits are linked to excessive drinking, especially by young people; Professor Ian Gilmore, of the Royal College of Physicians, warns that as a result, Britain is "moving towards a tsunami of health-related harm". Yet this is a problem that has been made far worse by the Government's liberalisation of the licensing laws.
The new study gives real cause for concern: while it has long been assumed that cheap supermarket alcohol fuels binge drinking, this is the first hard academic proof of the link. Aside from the human cost in terms of illnesses such as cirrhosis of the liver, it is an expensive problem. New figures show that binge drinking costs the NHS £2.7 billion a year: the numbers admitted to hospital with alcohol-related problems have almost doubled to 800,000 in just four years - almost 100,000 of them in London. And that is before the huge cost of alcohol-related crime is taken into account.
Supermarkets and other drink outlets must indeed act more responsibly. Today public health minister Dawn Primarolo made a veiled threat that the Government will consider tougher measures if the drinks industry does act voluntarily to curb binge drinking. But the spectacle of ministers chiding supermarkets and the drinks industry inspires little confidence, given that the Government meekly gave in to most of the industry's demands in the Licensing Act 2003; Ms Primarolo voted for the law ushering in 24-hour drinking. Since it came into force in November 2005 there have been repeated reports of the damaging impact on health and crime. If the Prime Minister really wants to show that he takes the issue seriously, he should consider legislation to tighten up on alcohol sales.
