Commenting on the government’s decision to drop plans for a minimum unit price for alcohol, Sir Richard Thompson, president of the Royal College of Physicians, said:
This is yet more bad news for public health.
We are bitterly disappointed that the government has decided to drop their plans for implementing a minimum unit price for alcohol.
The problems caused by alcohol misuse are huge. It costs the NHS almost £3.5 billion per year; increasing alcohol-related illness and injury accounts for more than 1 million hospital admissions each year. Almost half of all violent crime is alcohol-related, and alcohol is linked to 40% of domestic-violence cases.
Young people, binge drinkers and heavy drinkers naturally prefer cheaper drinks, and these groups are especially responsive to price. Doctors, the police, the emergency services, leading children’s charities and the Health Select Committee have all publicly endorsed minimum unit pricing, for which there is mounting international evidence.
Minimum pricing was the backbone of the government’s alcohol strategy. The strategy has been left spineless.
For further information please contact Andrew McCracken +44 (0)20 3075 1354 / 07990 745608, or email andrew.mccracken@rcplondon.ac.uk