Tish wrote:StephenDolan wrote:- Targeted action on high-strength, low-cost alcohol which fuels binge drinking and does most harm to health, with a range of options on both price and bottle-size being explored;
- Standardised cigarette packaging to be introduced immediately to halt the industry’s increasingly sophisticated methods of recruiting new, young smokers; and a goal that children born in 2015 will become the first ‘smoke-free generation’.
Good ideas from Andy Burnham
Is there any actual evidence that making stronger alcohol drinks more expensive actually cuts binge drinking? I ask becouse in my experience, the kinds of drinks that usually get hammered by this sort of thing (the Tennants Supers and Mad Dog 20/20s of the drink world) don't tend to be drunk by binge drinkers anyway. Binge drinkers either go out and get drunk in clubs, which is already pretty expensive, or club together to buy spirits and neck it all before they start. To actually have an affect purely though pricing, you would have to raise prices so high that barely anybody would be able to afford alcohol.
In my experience these kind of policies often have the opposite effect of what was intended, I was a big drinker back in the days of the alchopop panic of the '90s, and when they hiked the prices up we just stopped drinking Hooch and started drinking vodka and orange instead. We ended up drinking more, becouse it made you less gassy. Surely it would make more sense to try and find out
why so many people want to get so wasted all the time, rather than constantly tinkering with prices in this inefectual manner.
Hello Tish.
Speaking as a person who worked for a DAAT (Drug/Alcohol Action Team) for a now-defunct PCT, and as a recovering alcoholic who has worked with many AA people in various ways, I know a bit about this.
Binge drinkers come in many shapes and sizes. Most are probably not alcoholic in the accepted sense, but many alcoholics are or were binge drinkers.
I know many people who could stay away from a drink for months at a time, but one binge session could have them drinking 24/7 for days or weeks.
There is a lot of interesting neuro-physiological research which shows that some people, on exposure to certain substances, will develop a physical craving for it; that explains some people who become addicted to substances they are genetically or chemically susceptible to very quickly, and it might also explain why some families have a history of addiction.
There is also a wealth of evidence which shows that there is also an "addictive personality" which explains why many problem drinkers also often have other risky behaviours (gambling, drug use, sex addiction, eating disorders) and why treatment to address the primary dependency rarely works unless the underlying personality is treated.
There is also a lot of evidence which support the idea that childhood or other trauma leads to addiction; the 12-step fellowships and treatment centres have a significantly higher proportion of people who have such issues than is found in the general population.
Alcohol and some drugs also have an in-built quality which will lead to physical dependency if the use of the substance is regular and prolonged - as the body adjusts to frequent and copious use, it requires more in order to achieve the desired effect.
That's why people who are prescribed (often necessary) strong pain relief or sedatives can become dependent iatrogenically; that's what happened to people who took benzodiazepines (Valium, Librium, Mogadon) over years of treatment.
When you put all this together, people who may not (on the face of it) be at risk of dependency if they drink recklessly. The cost of alcohol in pubs and clubs is not affordable (in quantity) for many young people, and it has become commonplace for people to get tanked up on cheap spirits before they even go out.
The problem then is, that as you experienced, they are imbibing more alcohol than they realise; that in turn will result in more risky drinking and other behaviours, because alcohol is so disinhibiting.
Kids have experimented with getting off their tits since time immemorial; people who are fragile and have trouble coping with life have always sought escape; the problem these days is the ubiquity, variety, and easy access to alcohol.
Specialist doctors, treatment experts, and many people working in the field appear to agree that pricing will make a difference; some of them are also calling for supermarkets and drinking venues to curtail their opening/licensed hours.
Alcohol is a poison. That's not hyperbole, it's a fact. In very limited quantities, it's a good social lubricant and an enjoyable part of life.
But it is nevertheless a very dangerous substance - one senior policeman of my acquaintance who has worked in the field for years reckons if it was a new thing that came on the market now, it would not be approved for general use.
Nothing will change here because the government makes £10 Billion a year on duties; it wouldn't give that up in a hurry.
I don't know what the answer is, but pricing and accessibility has to part of it. Meanwhile, liver disease is the only major cause of death that is on the increase; fatalities have increased by 25% in less than a decade.
Pricing will not deter the chronic alcoholic. But it might help to cut excessive use (deliberate or accidental) in young people. so in my view it's worth a try.
