Prohibition Rears Its Head in Scotland
Under the heading of, “See, I told you so,” I bring news of the next step in the global fundamentalist movement toward Prohibition. On the heels of the anti-smoking controversy at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Scottish legislators now going after alcohol.
No Scotch in Scotland?
Impossible?
No.
The first steps have been taken, and they are following the pattern used to successfully ban smoking as their playbook. The details are below the fold.
This comes by way of Hamish MacDonell at The Scotsman:
Cheap alcohol promotions by supermarkets are being challenged in the Scottish Parliament over claims that the companies are encouraging under-age and binge-drinking.
Liberal Democrat MSP Donald Gorrie has tabled a motion in the parliament condemning supermarkets for selling bulk quantities of beer, wine and spirits at rock-bottom prices.
Mr Gorrie has called on the Scottish Executive to act to end the type of sales promotions which have seen two-for-one offers on cases of beer and big discounts on spirits and wine.
Mr Gorrie’s call for action is likely to find a sympathetic response from ministers who have targeted alcohol as the next major health problem to be tackled now that the smoking ban has been introduced.
The Central Scotland MSP is the latest public figure to condemn the supermarkets for their alcohol promotions. The retailers were criticised by politicians and alcohol experts during the World Cup for selling beer cheaper than water.
Some discount deals in supermarkets for bulk buys of beer reduced the cost of a can to 45p, while the same outlets were selling a litre of water for 54p.
This prompted Tom Wood, chairman of the body Action on Alcohol and Drugs in Edinburgh, to call for a ban on alcohol advertising and to warn of an increased threat to young people.
Mr Gorrie’s motion expresses concern with the low prices charged by some supermarkets for alcohol and warned of the effect that “recent sales promotions are likely to have in increasing the level of alcohol abuse, and especially of binge drinking and under-age drinking”.
It calls on the Executive and licensing boards to “encourage supermarkets to end their sales promotions of alcohol and agree with them arrangements to remove the incentive for customers to buy larger quantities of alcohol than their normal consumption because of very low prices”.
The MSP is backed by Scottish licensees and landlords, who have watched as the Executive has cracked down on alcohol promotions in pubs and bars without doing anything to restrict similar promotions in the nation’s supermarkets.
Paul Waterson, of the Scottish Licensed Trade Association, said he supported Mr Gorrie’s proposals but wanted to go even further.
He said supermarkets should have dedicated cashiers and aisles for alcohol sales, which should be staffed only by people aged 18 and over.
He said: “When one considers that the vast majority of alcohol sold in this country is sold through supermarkets then the controls should be more than they are in other parts of the industry.”
Scotland’s appalling record on alcohol abuse was revealed in Executive statistics earlier this year which showed that Scots are drinking themselves to death at a faster rate than people anywhere else in western Europe.
The death rate from cirrhosis of the liver, one of the worst side-effects of excessive alcohol, has risen faster in Scotland than elsewhere in Europe.
Jack McConnell believes that action needs to be taken to curb binge drinking, but realises it is much harder to legislate against drinking than was the case with smoking.
It is understood that the First Minister is considering the plan promoted by the licensees for legislation to separate alcohol aisles from food in supermarkets. This would compel shoppers to go through a cashier twice if they want to buy alcohol with their weekly shop.
The First Minister is also looking at other measures, including a crackdown on off-licences and a possible raising in the legal age for alcohol sales from 18 to 21, in an attempt to reduce Scotland’s poor record on alcohol abuse, but nothing has been decided yet.
A Scottish Executive spokeswoman merely stated yesterday: “The Executive is committed to combating excessive alcohol consumption and is considering a wide range of activities to tackle the inappropriate use of alcohol.”
The supermarkets, however, were not quite so enthusiastic in their responses to Mr Gorrie’s motion.
A spokesman for Asda insisted that the supermarket was doing a great deal to help combat alcohol abuse and defended his store’s pricing structure by stressing that Asda wanted to give customers the best value for their weekly shop.
He said Asda wine labels had been redesigned to include a sensible drinking message and meaningful information about the number of units of alcohol in each bottle.
But he added: “We simply want to give our customers the best value for their weekly shop - that means affordable prices.”
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