| Dr Peter Rice, consultant psychiatrist at Tayside Alcohol Problems Service, welcomed proposed legislation debated in the Scottish parliament yesterday, identifying measures that would help tackle problem drinking. He particularly welcomed moves to take a stronger national control of licensing matters, which could avoid pubs and clubs exploiting different decisions regarding licensing regulations in different towns and cities and becoming involved in “inappropriate promotions” of alcohol.
“For instance, when Perth set a minimum pricing policy about two years ago, Dundee pubs started to advertise in Perth for people to come through to Dundee and drink more cheaply than you could in Perth,” said Dr Rice.
“I think there has been a welcome shift (in the licensing Bill debated yesterday) towards some more firm national guidelines, and off sales is the best example of it. There has been a welcome shift there towards stronger national controls.”
Dr Rice, who was part of an expert group advising on the drafting of the licensing Bill, said that over the last two or three years there had been “increasing recognition” that off sales premises were “at least, if not more” the source of problem drinking than pubs.
“There is a recognition that off sales are a very important driver of the market because of the cheapness of their alcohol,” said Dr Rice.
Dr Rice said the Bill was being debated at a time when there was “a very rapid rise” in all the indicators of health-related harm from alcohol.
“In Tayside over the whole of the last five years, one in 30 deaths is alcohol related,” he said. “That’s up three-fold from 12 years ago. Licensing is an important tool in getting things turned around, and I think the decisions made yesterday are moves in the right direction. What we now need are the (licensing) boards in Fife and Tayside to really work effectively to monitor what is happening in their communities.” |
