Alcohol abuse: 'The polluter pays principle may be a help'

IN the hours leading up to Hogmanay last year the SNP resolved to make curbing the abuse of alcohol its number one priority in 2008.

Public Health Minister Shona Robison promised a long-term strategy document aimed at changing public attitudes towards excessive drinking. Based on the latest shocking figures detailing the number of hospital admissions of youngsters from binge drinking, it cannot come a minute too soon.

The previous Labour-Lib Dem government would undoubtedly hail the introduction of the smoking ban in public places as its greatest contribution towards improving public health.

In the meantime the bill for treating alcohol-related illnesses continues to soar and now stands at more than £1 billion a year. The nation's binge-drinking culture accounted for 28,000 victims of drink-fuelled violence being treated in accident and emergency wards over the same period, and while one-in-100 deaths in 1980 were related to alcohol consumption, the figure has now jumped to one in every 30.

With more people drinking heavily at an early age the effects on social services are becoming apparent, with Edinburgh having to increase the number of beds it requires for victims of alcohol-related mental disorders, such as Korsakoff's Syndrome, to 44.

Despite the SNP's resolve to tackle binge drinking it would be naive to think this will be done in the short term. Prohibition is not an option and compared to changing what for many has become a way of life, stopping smoking in public is like taking candy from a baby compared to stopping people drinking to excess.

Using the "polluter pays" principle to make alcohol retailers contribute towards the cost of treatments may help reduce the cost to the public purse, but is it fair? The vendors of high calorie snacks are not asked to contribute to the cost of treating people that are obese and car manufacturers do not have a levy imposed upon them to pay for the treatment of road accident victims.

Raising the cost of alcohol through taxation is considered by experts to be an ineffective answer to curbing abuse as those determined to get drink will find some way to pay for it. Preventing drink from finding its way into the hand of minors is no easy task while those legally entitled to buy it are prepared to purchase it for them.

It has been clear for some time that there is no quick fix solution and it will be interesting to see what legislation the Government puts forward later this year in search of solutions. With alcohol more readily available and cheaper than ever before, what is for certain is that try as they might it is going to be one New Year resolution that the SNP and Ms Robison will find very hard to keep.