'Ban alcohol loyalty points to save health'

bbc.co.uk ^ | 05/11/10 | Dr Catriona Morton

[TornadoAlley3]

More than 5% of Scots are alcohol dependent In this week's Scrubbing Up, Dr Catriona Morton says drastic measures are needed to save Scottish drinkers from themselves.

In order to curb dangerous drinking, supermarkets must be prevented from selling cheap alcohol and awarding loyalty points with purchases, she says.

We are facing a new pandemic - alcohol as a major risk factor for poor health.

In Scotland, the majority of adults are exceeding recommended drinking limits and 5% (probably more) are alcohol-dependent. Voluntary codes, hazard-labelling and NHS health promotion efforts are simply not working - so we need to hit the drinking culture at the heart by introducing minimum pricing, and removing supermarket loyalty points for alcohol.

Scotland now has the world's eighth-highest level of alcohol consumption.

We need to do something now to protect not only the health of Scots but the NHS.

[thefactor]

we saw some evidence of this last night...

[WayneS]

We are facing a new pandemic - alcohol as a major risk factor for poor health.

New?

Where has they been for the last 10,000 years or so?

[WayneS]

Sorry... ...where HAVE they been...

[squarebarb]

Socialism and nanny-state governments always, always have problems with alcoholism.

[TornadoAlley3]

banning cell phones, cigarettes, salt and skittles?

[libertarian27]

The more Nanny whines the more I need a drink.....

[newheart]

Scotland now has the world's eighth-highest level of alcohol consumption.

Considering that Scotch comes from Scotland, it is kind of hard to blame them.

[bboop]

haha, good point. And one wonders if they have studied Prohibition and how well that worked?

[Flintlock]

Don’t the Scots have the highest proportion of Leftist/commies in Great NannieBritain??
That would drive ME to drink.

[Daveinyork]

Sooner or later, the puritans and the prohibitionists will return to demon rum. Their gun is notched with marijuana, tobacco, sugar, fat, salt, froid gras, etc. In need of another notch on the gun, alcohol is there for the taking. Can caffeine be far behind?

[Pharmboy]

??...all he had was about 4 beers and no whiskey.

[WayneS]

The Scots give up alcohol?

But Scotch is what sets the Scots apart from every other group of skirt-wearing men who talk funny!

;-)

[Moonman62]

Maybe they studied how well alcohol restriction is working for the aborigines in Australia.

[Bigg Red]

And one wonders if they have studied Prohibition and how well that worked?

^^^
For progressives, empirical data are unimportant. What really matters is their ideology. They know that if they just set up their utopia correctly, the people will fall in line.

[aruanan]

We are facing a new pandemic - alcohol as a major risk factor for poor health.

Here we go again. Back before Prohibition, one out of every five Americans worked in the liquor industry in some way. Per capita alcohol consumption ages 15 and above was about 100 fifths of liquor per year. But we didn't have organized crime (organized crime was a direct result of needing to organize alcohol shipments between different parts of the country). We didn't have an income tax. Once prohibition started an additional source of income would be needed to replace what was lost to the federal government from excise taxes (about 40% of its revenues came from taxes on alcoholic beverages). Those people in the temperance movement were also those behind the income tax. Before, we had alcohol. Now we have alcohol, organized crime, the income tax and the insatiable appetite for more spending that it has made possible thanks to a bunch of busy bodies who thought their cause was so noble that it required the power of the federal government to make it work.

[thefactor]

Just thought maybe you’d want to forward this article to the Scots you know.

[Vanders9]

Knowing a large number of scots I’m surprised its only 5% who are alcohol dependent...

[Vanders9]

Its the law of unintended consequences again. These people meant well, I'm sure, and excessive alcohold consumption IS a problem. The problem was a disconnect. They failed to discriminate between the few people who are riotously, horrifically alcoholic, and the vast majority who just like a drink now and again. Prohibition turned the vast majority of Americans into criminals. Similarly, legislation here will do exactly the same.

There IS a problem yes. But this isn't the way to fix it.

[bboop]

Yes, I read that if Scotland had not voted in the recent election, Cameron would have won by a large margin within the UK. From Brave Heart to Nannie State. tsk tsk.