Leading Health Charities call for ban on
advertising alcohol price promotions

Institute of Alcohol Studies comment

Aneurin Owen

Gordon Brown’s almost instant dismissal, on the 16th March, of the Chief Medical Officer’s call for a 50p minimum price per unit of alcohol is symptomatic of an underlying attitude across Government departments that needs to be challenged vigorously.

The fundamental approach of the Alcohol Harm Reduction Strategy and many other Government initiatives has been to target the ‘excessive drinking of a minority’ without impinging on the freedoms of the majority - the mantra that was repeated by Gordon Brown in his comments. This rhetoric is to be found across all government initiatives relating to the control of alcohol, its promotion and sale, as witnessed in the recent consultation documents such as that for the new code of practice for alcohol retailers. It is surely time to recognise that the harm caused by alcohol is better represented by the notion of a continuum of harm across the total spectrum of the population and across the total spectrum of consumption.

In this edition, the article on increased cancer risk highlights the risks associated even at low levels of alcohol consumption and we highlight a Scottish survey indicating that even 8 to 14 weekly units of alcohol give rise to a higher number of hospital bed days occupied.

Total population approaches have long been advocated and the current debate surrounding the introduction of a minimum price highlights the difficulty of introducing proportionate measures that will reduce harm. There is widespread support for minimum pricing as an instrument to reduce the availability of low-cost alcohol and supporters of minimum pricing believe that it is the best price policy because it will affect heavy drinkers whilst having less effect on moderate drinkers. The controversy and the debate will continue for the forseeable future, as highlighted in Jack Law’s article. There is a long way to go, but at least the relationship between price, consumption and harm is now fi xed in the consciousness of retailers, policy makers and health advocates alike.