News
ADS response to House of Commons report on drinking guidelines.
ADS (Addiction Dependency Solutions) welcomes today’s report from the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee that advises two alcohol-free days a week as well as urging that safe drinking guidelines be revised. ADS supports the words of the Royal College of Physicians who believe that ‘in addition to quantity, safe alcohol limits must also take into account frequency.’ ADS warns that drinking everyday increases the chance of alcohol dependence, serious illnesses and could have a catastrophic effect on people’s lives.
The Department of Health has an opportunity to make some fundamental changes to current alcohol policy in the upcoming Alcohol Strategy. ADS calls for policies to address pricing, availability and changes to licensing laws in order to tackle an issue that is getting worse and costing the state £55.1 billion pounds a year. A multi-dimensional approach to tackle alcohol misuse in the UK is needed and it is up to the Department of Health to implement positive change.
Any new guideline needs to take into account both health considerations as well as the reality of the society that we live in by being sensible and not a draconian clamp-down on drinking that people will just simply ignore.
On Friday 6th January 2012 the Daily Mail published an article about a scheme that the national supermarket chain Sainsbury’s has introduced that lowers the price of certain alcohol products. Here is the written response by ADS to the Daily Mail on this matter
Dear Editor
My reaction to the article published on Friday 6th January entitled ‘Sainsbury’s solution to binge drinking? Cut the price of booze’ is one of dismay. Responsible drinking needs consistent and evidence based policies that will tackle the issues fully. This cynical marketing trick is none of these. By encouraging consumption of alcohol in any form you are not addressing the problem, but adding to it. The article states that the aim of Sainsbury’ is to ‘encourage a shift away from the typical wine choice of most Britons, which is normally 12-14 per cent alcohol.’ Does this sound like an organisation aiming to tackle binge drinking or does it sound like an organisation that is aiming to attract customers to its store with the promise of cheaper alcohol? The supermarket chain knows exactly what it is doing and to package the scheme as an aim to tackle binge-drinking is wrong and they know it. For example, as the article states, ‘it is also running price cut promotions on large packs…a pack of four Stella Artois 440mil has been cut by 50p to £4.’ Quite the contradictions with the ‘aim’ of the scheme as Sainsbury’s is encouraging their customers to buy at least 4 cans of strong lager for less than the price of a bottle of wine. Interesting take on a way to tackle binge drinking.
The article highlights three main issues of wider contention when trying to tackle the binge drinking culture of Britain. Firstly, the supermarkets are a real problem and until they begin to act in more responsible manner for the good of society these devastating problems will never go away. They either need to lead the way or be forced to do so. Secondly, the article states that the ‘promotion is supported by Lib Dem health minister Paul Burtsow’. A health minister for the Government is supporting a scheme that encourages increased consumption of alcohol. If this is the type of scheme that the Government is supporting then I worry greatly about their future proposals. Lastly, once again in an article in a national newspaper on binge drinking, it ends with a reference to minimum pricing. We need to get away from this as the only big policy area on alcohol issues. Minimum pricing is a complex issue, but it is just one element of a wider debate that needs to take place on pricing and accessibility. The policy itself is just one strand of a whole discussion around alcohol strategy that the Government urgently needs to have.
Yours sincerely,
Lady Rhona Bradley DL
Chief Executive of ADS (Addiction Dependency Solutions)
Click HERE to view the full report.