Minimum price of alcohol planned in England and Wales
Posted: Fri Mar 23, 2012 11:43 am
The government is proposing a minimum price of alcohol in England and Wales in an effort to end a culture of binge drinking. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17482035
Strange with the cheaper prices in Spain, there doesn't appear to be such a problem with the Spanish young people!
Personally I think the irresponsible drinkers in the UK, who choose to get drunk, will still pay whatever the price. I really wonder who gains here !
Quote : Andrew Opie of the British Retail Consortium said the proposal was "seriously misguided".
"It's simplistic to imagine a minimum price is some sort of silver bullet solution to irresponsible drinking," he said.
"Irresponsible drinking has cultural causes and retailers have been hugely engaged in information and education to change attitudes to drinking.
"It's a myth to suggest that supermarkets are the problem or that a pub is somehow a safer drinking environment. Effectively, a minimum price is a tax on responsible drinkers."
Personally, I think 'cultural causes' is the operative phrase. There are still responsible drinkers in the UK, young and old. Why should we all pay the price...in more ways than one?
Copied from - http://www.sirc.org/publik/drinking3.html
Jan
Strange with the cheaper prices in Spain, there doesn't appear to be such a problem with the Spanish young people!
Personally I think the irresponsible drinkers in the UK, who choose to get drunk, will still pay whatever the price. I really wonder who gains here !
Quote : Andrew Opie of the British Retail Consortium said the proposal was "seriously misguided".
"It's simplistic to imagine a minimum price is some sort of silver bullet solution to irresponsible drinking," he said.
"Irresponsible drinking has cultural causes and retailers have been hugely engaged in information and education to change attitudes to drinking.
"It's a myth to suggest that supermarkets are the problem or that a pub is somehow a safer drinking environment. Effectively, a minimum price is a tax on responsible drinkers."
Personally, I think 'cultural causes' is the operative phrase. There are still responsible drinkers in the UK, young and old. Why should we all pay the price...in more ways than one?
Copied from - http://www.sirc.org/publik/drinking3.html
- There is enormous cross-cultural variation in the way people behave when they drink. In some societies (such as the UK, Scandinavia, US and Australia), alcohol is associated with violent and anti-social behaviour, while in others (such as Mediterranean and some South American cultures) drinking behaviour is largely peaceful and harmonious.
- This variation cannot be attributed to different levels of consumption or genetic differences, but is clearly related to different cultural beliefs about alcohol, expectancies regarding the effects of alcohol and social norms regarding drunken comportment.
- The findings of both cross-cultural research and controlled experiments indicate that the effects of alcohol on behaviour are primarily determined by social and cultural factors, rather than the chemical actions of ethanol.
Jan