ALCOHOL abuse is costing Scotland more than £2.25 billion a year – double the previous estimate – The Scotsman can reveal. But that massive figure is still considered to be a substantial underestimate of the true cost to the health service, justice system and economy.
Liver cirrhosis deaths have soared in Scotland over the past 30 years, while falling across Europe, prompting calls for urgent action to tackle the alcohol epidemic. Radical measures being considered include upping the age limit for buying alcohol to 21 and raising taxes on drinks with high alcohol content.
Tighter restrictions on the sale of alcohol and limits on advertising have helped to cut liver deaths in other nations, and the SNP has decided to make tackling alcohol misuse a top priority for its second year in office, in the belief that drink is stopping the country fulfilling its true potential.
Campaigners agree action is now needed to tackle Scotland's poor relationship with alcohol, with mounting evidence of its negative impact on the country.
Figures studied by the Scottish Government show deaths from cirrhosis of the liver, caused by alcohol abuse, have seen the fastest growth in Europe.
By 2000 – the latest available figures – there were 70 such deaths per 100,000 men aged 45-64 in Scotland, compared with fewer than 30 in 1980.
In other European countries outside the UK, deaths dropped from about 50 per 100,000 in 1980 to about 30 in 2000. Indications suggest this trend is continuing, but with the rate of deaths still going up in Scotland.
Despite those shocking statistics, putting a figure on the overall cost of alcohol problems has proved problematic.
In 2002-3, it was estimated alcohol misuse was costing Scotland £1.125 billion a year. The latest figure, calculated by the health analytical services division of the Scottish Government, concluded the cost was £2.25 billion, equivalent to £6.2 million a day, although the true cost is certain to be even higher.
Shona Robison, Holyrood's public health minister, said the new figure highlighted the scale of the problem facing Scotland.
"The fact this revised analysis has given us an estimate that is double the previous estimate at £2.25 billion confirms our view that alcohol misuse in Scotland is holding us back as a nation," said Ms Robison.
"It's costing us a lot of money in public services, and clearly it is costing the economy a lot of lost opportunity.
"Only when people accept the scale of the problem will they accept the government needs to respond with action proportionate to the scale of the problem."
The biggest costs of alcohol misuse were found to be economic, with business hit hard by hungover employees affecting productivity. The total cost to the economy, including absence from work and unemployment, was estimated at £820 million. The NHS was also badly hit, with the effects of alcohol-related ill-health on hospitals, GPs and the ambulance service totalling at least £405 million. The costs to social services and the criminal justice system added a further £555 million.
But one of the most worrying costs – and the most difficult to calculate – was the human and social one. Suffering caused by crime, loss of life and other social damage was put at £470 million.
Ms Robison accepted that tackling a culture of alcohol-misuse in Scotland would not be easy. "We can change it by focusing on the fact that this is not about being anti-alcohol. This is anti-alcohol-misuse, and about getting people to understand the cost of that misuse, and that people can enjoy the product without abusing it," she said.
"We want to get to that stage, in the same way that other European countries do. They enjoy alcohol products without abusing them the way we do in Scotland.
"I do think that in the conversations I hear, there's beginning to be a realisation that this is holding us back, as individuals, as families, as a society. Wouldn't it be good to have £2.25 billion invested elsewhere? And that is before the potential is released.
"I am optimistic we can take the Scottish public with us. It's not going to happen overnight – cultural change never does. But I am confident we can get to a better place where we can enjoy alcohol without abusing it."
The Scottish Government is set to publish its long-term strategy on alcohol this summer.
Action that could be taken includes increasing the age at which people can buy alcohol from 18 to 21, as in the United States. It is also likely there will be measures to crack down on discounts in supermarkets, such as imposing minimum prices.
Jack Law, the chief executive of Alcohol Focus Scotland, said the country was just starting to wake up to its alcohol-related problems. "I think there's a broad recognition that in Scotland the way in which we consume alcohol is problematic," he said.
He said alcohol was everywhere – a supermarket loss-leader, sponsor of sports events and linked to TV programmes. "People tend, then, to see alcohol as nothing more than another kind of drink, like tea. But it's a licensed product," he said.
Evelyn Gillan, project director of Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems, also said the price had to be addressed, and £5 pocket money could now allow a teenager to buy enough alcohol to kill themselves.
"We have called for minimum pricing," Dr Gillan said. "There's an unquestionable link between price, consumption and harm."
She said the reasons for higher rates of liver deaths in Scotland were complex. "France took a big decision some years ago to tackle their own rising rates of liver disease. They completely banned advertising of alcohol and put controls on when and where it was available. This action has clearly worked," she said.
Paul Waterson, of the Scottish Licensed Trade Association, said: "We need to cut out the alcohol being sold in supermarkets below cost."
David Sinclair, of Victim Support Scotland, said alcohol misuse had to be tackled in light of the large amount of crime committed under the influence.
SCOTLAND'S ALCOHOL SHAME: 'Radical measures' vow to cut alcohol abuseSHOPKEEPERS ATTACKED RETAILERS have called for a nationally recognised proof-of-age card to be brought in for all youngsters to crack down on threats and violence against shop staff.
John Drummond, chief executive of the Scottish Grocers Federation (SGF) said the level of abuse workers faced from young people asked their age when buying items such as alcohol or cigarettes was "simply not good enough".
A survey by the group of 553 such stores found there were 165 violent incidents in 2007, as well as 1,269 occasions when staff were verbally abused and 180 cases of racist abuse. Many of the incidents were prompted by staff asking for proof of age.
Mr Drummond said: "The results of the survey, which has been carried out on an annual basis for the past four years, continue to draw attention to the violence and intimidation staff are often confronted with when selling age-related products."
The SGF has petitioned the Scottish Parliament on this issue, and is awaiting a response from ministers.
In the report Mr Drummond also claimed some areas were becoming "ghettos".
High-flying life let 'problem sneak in' DAVID had what many would consider a perfect life – a good job, an expensive flat and a long-term girlfriend. But with his high-flying career came the socialising which led him into problem drinking.
Now the 42-year-old has turned his back on his old life and dramatically reduced his alcohol consumption.
David realised in August 2002 that his drinking was out of control.
He said: "It sneaked up. A lot of it was the job I had, the relationship I was in, the amount of money I was earning.
"I had a lot of money and a very high-pressure job. But it was also the circle of friends I was keeping. These were all high-earners and high-flyers."
While working in computer management, David found himself out drinking a lot as "there was a lot of corporate entertaining". But he realised he had a problem with the level of alcohol he was consuming – up to a bottle of vodka a night.
"I woke up that morning in 2002 and had some kind of epiphany," he said.
"I was standing on the doorstep of my £250,000 flat in a nice part of Glasgow, my BMW in the driveway and my partner's car there as well.
"I just thought, 'I'm not happy'. I wondered what was making me unhappy and this voice said it was the drink."
David quit his job and ended his relationship. He faced his problems with the support of family and friends.
"It does not matter who you are. If you pour enough booze down your neck over a long enough period you will become clinically anxious and clinically depressed.
"Part of that led me into my new choice of career."
David has since retrained and is now working in mental health and "is a lot happier".
He added: "I drink again now but moderately. I don't feel the need to get off my face any more."
'Drink was coming first, before anyone'WHEN his son died at the age of nine, William Cotter's alcohol problems began to spiral out of control.
Drinking whisky became a major part of his life and seriously affected his family.
But Mr Cotter, 59, got help from the Greater Easterhouse Alcohol Awareness Project (Geaap), of which he is now chairman.
He did not start drinking until the age of 20, but it was only when his son was knocked down and killed in a road accident during his summer holidays in 1981 that he started drinking more heavily.
Mr Cotter said: "I always liked a wee drink but it got very severe when my son got killed.
"The drink overran me. It went from a few halves, which turned into half bottles of whisky, which turned into a bottle and then two bottles."
Mr Cotter was drinking for 15 to 20 years before he got help from Geaap.
He said: "It was only when it got so bad and it was affecting my family, my wife and two daughters that I got help.
"The drink was in charge of me. The drink was coming first, before anyone else, even my own safety.
"It was one of these times when I lifted the phone and went to the welfare centre on Easterhouse Road. I started getting help with Geaap.
"I can take a drink now, but I can be sociable, whereas one time one drink led to another and another. I just have a wee sherry now.
"Sometimes I have fallen off the wagon. But it is very rare."
Mr Cotter still remembers the feeling alcohol gave him.
"You drink not to care, but then when you wake up you are as bad as you were before and so you have to drink again.
"It is just a way of trying to protect yourself. The only way to protect yourself when you're an alcoholic is to get drunk."
Mr Cotter is now more aware of the extent of alcohol misuse among people in Scotland.
He added: "The problem lies in the kids. They are able to get a drink very easily. Where I stay, you see them coming out of the park, ten and 12 years old, out of their box. It's terrible.
"There are young girls who don't know what is happening to them when they are drunk."
Time for bold steps to be taken to tackle Scots' misuse of alcoholKENNY MACASKILL
JUSTICE SECRETARY TOO many excuses are made in this country for the misuse of alcohol. The dark nights and the northern climate are often blamed.
But that's shown for what it is when we look at Canada – false. Cold and dark winters there don't result in a bevvy culture and many Canadians are our kith and kin.
The time for excuses has passed and the time for action has arrived. We cannot go on as we are – the damage in our communities, as well as to our health and economy, is too great.
An alcohol policy conference in Barcelona made me reflect more on this. I saw just how different the culture is – people enjoy a glass of wine with dinner, not a bottle. An evening stroll through the Barri Gotic reinforced this – people were browsing in shops until 10pm, then going for a meal and a drink.
At the conference, I was discussing possible action with a number of other European ministers. Some of the examples were very interesting – Sabine Baetzing, the federal drug commissioner of Germany, spoke about their "apple juice law", which ensures no alcohol can be sold at a price cheaper than apple juice.
In Scotland, I wonder if this would just mean retailers would slash the price of apple juice – or Irn Bru or whatever else you choose to use – to allow alcohol to be sold more cheaply.
In Spain, higher taxes have been placed on certain spirits with a high alcohol content. Although we don't have powers to fix taxation, the idea of making higher-strength drinks more expensive is a principle I agree with. I still find it absurd that a bottle of vodka can cost just over £7, while some high-alcohol cider can be cheaper than water. This is fuelling alcohol misuse and there is plenty evidence to link low price to consumption.
It was clear to me that other countries have already taken bold action and are starting to see the benefits. The charts and tables of European comparisons provide stark evidence. In most other nations, cases of liver diseases are starting to fall, but in Scotland they are still rising. In government, we can't afford to sit back and do nothing while we watch this continue.
That's why our strategic approach to alcohol, to be published this summer, will contain a range of suggestions and firm actions designed to tackle the problem. It will consider a whole range of issues designed to change the culture around alcohol in Scotland.
We need each and every Scot to stop, think about and, if necessary, reduce their own alcohol consumption. As a government we need to take action, and we will. There won't be any easy overnight solution – changing a culture takes time.
But by changing the culture we will make Scotland safer, smarter, healthier and wealthier – and that's why we will take bold action to achieve it.
The full article contains 2454 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
