Brown discards minimum alcohol price proposal

London, March 16: In order to curb the escalating levels of binge drinking prevalent among young people, Britain’s Chief Medical Officer Liam Donaldson had suggested the government to increase alcohol prices. However, Prime Minister Gordon Brown has rejected the recommendation.

Dr. Liam had suggested fixing the price of per unit of alcohol at 50 pence. This would have meant that a bottle of wine could not be sold for less than 4.50 pounds, a bottle of whisky for less than 14 pounds, and a set of six 500 ml cans of lager for less than 6 pounds.

His advice had come in the wake of a spurt in teenage drinking and binge drinking. Binge drinking is basically defined as the consumption of alcohol in large amounts over a short span of time.

But Brown rejected the proposal saying that it is unfair to make so many people suffer for the mistake of a few. Addressing a news conference, he said, “It is right for society to bear down on, and deal with, anti-social behaviour that is associated with drinking.”

He further added, “But...it is also right that we do not want the responsible, sensible majority of moderate drinkers to have to pay more, or suffer, as a result of the excesses of a small minority.”

In his report, Donaldson had stated that price of alcohol is directly proportional to its consumption. He also added that an increase in price leads to a larger reduction in alcohol consumption by heavy drinkers as compared to moderate drinkers.

But the government does not want to burden the majority for the irresponsible behavior of a few. However, The Department of Health did say that it was trying to tackle the problems associated with cheap alcohol. A spokesperson for the Department said that the measures taken to check this problem have to be “appropriate, fair and effective”.

On the positive side, Scotland, which has one of the highest rates of alcohol consumption in the world, might be interested in considering Donaldson’s idea as last month it was looking into setting a minimum price per unit of alcohol.

As per the statistics collected by the World Health Organization, Britain has the 10th highest alcohol consumption in the world. The shocking part is that almost 12 litres of pure alcohol is consumed by each member of the population every year.

The results of a study in January 2009 had revealed that that a third of adults in the UK drink more than the daily recommended alcohol limit at least once a week. This research was conducted by the Office for National Statistics, and it was found that a fifth of adults consumed more than double the limit on their heaviest drinking day of the week.

Experts advise that alcohol labeling, sales and advertising need to be properly regulated if the menace of drinking has to be controlled. This must be coupled with campaigns that make the public aware about the dangers of binge drinking.