Minimum pricing for drink is pointless
HERE in Scotland they have introduced minimum pricing for alcohol at 50p a unit. My bet is that it will make no difference, that the drunks will still be cluttering up A&E in Edinburgh and Glasgow hospitals on Friday and Saturday nights.
There are two arguments against minimum pricing: that it penalises the sensible drinker and that it will have no impact.
I am prepared to reject the first on the grounds of the common good if the measure works but the second is decisive.
When I went out with a group of young, professional, binge-drinking women for a radio programme recently the average consumption was 10 vodkas interspersed with shots on top of whatever wine they had consumed before going out.
If anybody is prepared to spend such a fortune on alcohol then tinkering with the price will have no more impact than a feather falling on a mattress.
Such drinkers will simply spend a bit more, switch to a cheaper drink, consume more at home before going out or find some other way round the problem.
Meanwhile the chap with only a little to spend on his weekend pint will indeed be penalised
Meanwhile the chap with only a little to spend on his weekend pint will indeed be penalised.