Bye Bye cheap booze?

[pANDAS Radio]

Originally Posted by Elspeth

It shouldn't make much difference to be honest. It will affect supermarkets far more.

Charging the public more when pubs and clubs get wholesale deals on bulk is a stupid idea. People here should be allowed to take advantage of the same deals in Asda as someone in Bolton gets. It would even result in people near the border getting their discounted booze just a few miles away, reducing spending in Scotland.

This will also penalise Scottish companies like Glen Catrine Bonded Warehouse, makers of Glen's vodka, by increasing the price of their product by over £2.50 and placing it in the same price bracket as many firms based in other countries.

[I'm Your God Now]

Anyone who buys Glens Vodka, regardless of the price, is a fucking lunatic.

[Jaemi]

Originally Posted by Bunnylingus

That's what I don't agree with - you can't just solve addictions people have had for years by making it more expensive - they'll find the money from somewhere or get it on the black market.

It's a start.
The fact is the NHS in scotland is spending something like £2bn a year on drink related problems.
People with alcohol problems can go into a supmarket and ruin their liver with a bottle of Tesco Value Gin at a couple of quid a bottle.
Something has to be done and this is the first step of positive action I've seen from anyone in years.

[pANDAS Radio]

So the people with the real problem, alcoholics, will simply pay more. Alcoholism is a disease, not something that people will get over just because booze costs more. If anything it's more likely to increase deaths through binge drinking when the alcoholics get their giro or wages.

Same way that crimes like pickpocketing and shoplifting increase when there is a drought induced increase in certain drug prices.

[ladysavage]

Originally Posted by Jaemi

It's a start.
The fact is the NHS in scotland is spending something like £2bn a year on drink related problems.
People with alcohol problems can go into a supmarket and ruin their liver with a bottle of Tesco Value Gin at a couple of quid a bottle.
Something has to be done and this is the first step of positive action I've seen from anyone in years.

sorry i'm with Rachael on this one, not every alcoholic is flat brooke and buying the cheap nasty crap, though i do think it's bloody stupid having booze as cheap as it is.

Prices will go up anyway because it's more expensive to make due to increases in energy and raw materials prices but i think it's more important as others have said to address the soical issues of drinking, after all it's often cheaper to drink alcoholic drinks than soft drinks (i'm looking at you Bamboo-£1.50-for-coke and £2 for-soda-water-Solid-Rock) but it's gonna take an awful lot of changes in attitude for this to happen

[Jaemi]

It's a start though, that's all.
It's not a case of "jam the prices up, that'll sort it".

[Rio Ohki]

It's a bit rubbish. Strikes me as short sighted, and rubbish.

[Witch]

Originally Posted by ladysavage

sorry i'm with Rachael on this one, not every alcoholic is flat brooke and buying the cheap nasty crap, though i do think it's bloody stupid having booze as cheap as it is.

Prices will go up anyway because it's more expensive to make due to increases in energy and raw materials prices but i think it's more important as others have said to address the soical issues of drinking, after all it's often cheaper to drink alcoholic drinks than soft drinks (i'm looking at you Bamboo-£1.50-for-coke and £2 for-soda-water-Solid-Rock) but it's gonna take an awful lot of changes in attitude for this to happen

see also classic grand £1.40 for a coke, making it what 60p for the spirit?
Nuts!

[Syxx]

" According to the statistics, every person over 16 drinks an average of 23 units of alcohol every week. That is the equivalent of 570 pints of beer, or 125 bottles of wine, or 42 bottles of vodka a year. More than 1,500 Scots die from alcohol related problems every year."

If that's true, it's fucking terrifying.

Good move, i say. Could fucking cripple nightclubs, though.

[Rowsbette]

I don't really think it's gonna encourage people to drink less, I think it'll just mean people spend more money on booze. (Although I think my dislike for this idea may stem from the fact I'm quite partial to the old £8 budget rum.)

[I'm Your God Now]

Just as well Stew sold his pub in time.

[pANDAS Radio]

Originally Posted by Jaemi

It's a start though, that's all.
It's not a case of "jam the prices up, that'll sort it".

How is it a start though? What does jamming the prices up start towards and how is it supposedly going to progress?

It seems like a lazy way to appear as if they're combatting alcoholism, and a good way to potentially reduce the amount of money coming into the country.

[LesMTS]

Originally Posted by Syxx

" According to the statistics, every person over 16 drinks an average of 23 units of alcohol every week. That is the equivalent of 570 pints of beer, or 125 bottles of wine, or 42 bottles of vodka a year. More than 1,500 Scots die from alcohol related problems every year."

If that's true, it's fucking terrifying.

It's 11 pints a week.
Not terribly unusual.

[Syxx]

Aye, but for everybody? Does that figure even cover the people that don't drink?

[I'm Your God Now]

I think it's giving it just on an national average; the equivalent of every person having 11 pints a week, as there are people who may have 30 a week, Westy, and others who have 0, Lev.