I'm not thinking it would fly in the U.S. That whole prohabition failure kinda makes us a little jumpy when people start messing with our alcohol. Tho we are a lot less sensitive about tobacco which is taxed heavily.
Minimum pricing for alcohol
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Its supposed to discourage alcoholics/ heavy drinkers who rely on cheaply priced alcohol. There isn't much evidence that it works.
Wandering Bob
Über Member
Can you produce any evidence that "there isn't much evidence"? I thought that it had been trialled in several parts of the UK (Bristol? Plymouth? Glasgow?) and that there had been positive and tangible benefits. And no, I can't quote official reports, stats etc - but I thought in the interests of having a balanced conversation, it's worth mentioning that there is another side to this story. Anyone who has been unfortunate enough to be in a town centre just about anywhere in England on a Friday or Saturday night in the last 20 years will know that there is a major problem - and, I would have thought, would welcome any steps that are taken to deal with it.
There is just very little evidence either way far as I know. One difficulty is that the problem drinkers you refer to do not take part in surveys and trials very often so its hard to know if price changes would impact on them. The other side of this is that alcohol abuse is costing the NHS a lot of money - but the abuse by poorer people is only a part of that. Average income people and above can and will afford to drink despite any increase in price of the basic the unit of alcohol. Most of them don't in any case drink the lowest priced alcohol.
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My Dad was a drinker and nothing could have stopped him. He died of a heart problem so I can't say it was drink that caused it but I guess it didn't help. I don't drink much but lots of my work colleagues do and I don't think any increase in price would stop them.
Wandering Bob
Über Member
There's a lot of pessimism in this thread about the efficacity of price rises and their effect on alcohol abuse. Why?
Petrol (gas) price rises were necessary because it's a finite resource and it causes problems with pollution. The result ? much more efficient engines and an overall reduction in vehicle use.
Tobacco price rises have caused a big drop in the number of smokers. Prices have more than doubled here in the last 5 years and the impact has been immediate.
Why wouldn't rises in the price of alcohol have an effect on the societal and health problems resulting from alcohol abuse. What's so different between alcohol and nicotine? Smoking is harder to quit than drinking (and believe me, I know) but price rises worked in reducing the number of smokers.
I think talk of the effect of Prohibition is slightly misleading. No-one is talking about banning alcohol - just making large quantities of it harder to obtain.
Petrol (gas) price rises were necessary because it's a finite resource and it causes problems with pollution. The result ? much more efficient engines and an overall reduction in vehicle use.
Tobacco price rises have caused a big drop in the number of smokers. Prices have more than doubled here in the last 5 years and the impact has been immediate.
Why wouldn't rises in the price of alcohol have an effect on the societal and health problems resulting from alcohol abuse. What's so different between alcohol and nicotine? Smoking is harder to quit than drinking (and believe me, I know) but price rises worked in reducing the number of smokers.
I think talk of the effect of Prohibition is slightly misleading. No-one is talking about banning alcohol - just making large quantities of it harder to obtain.
Illegal drugs are hard to attain and quite expensive and yet drug use is on the rise. So expense and attainability does not always relate to use.
I'm not rich yet I still manage to afford my vices, if the price went up i would still figure out how to afford them...of course my vices aren't in the realm of alcohol or drugs.
Frankly when i comes to smoking the education i recieved early on convinced me to never want to smoke. I think it was about 5th grade when a doctor came and visited the class. He had a book of laminated pages of real sliced lungs of smokers that you could look thru. I even remember the sound those pages made as you turned each laminated lung slice over to see the next page.
I'm not rich yet I still manage to afford my vices, if the price went up i would still figure out how to afford them...of course my vices aren't in the realm of alcohol or drugs.
Frankly when i comes to smoking the education i recieved early on convinced me to never want to smoke. I think it was about 5th grade when a doctor came and visited the class. He had a book of laminated pages of real sliced lungs of smokers that you could look thru. I even remember the sound those pages made as you turned each laminated lung slice over to see the next page.
Wandering Bob
Über Member
Very, very tough to witness when you're young - but what amazingly effective education.
I agree entirely. But there is a major social problem in the UK - which I realise that US members may not be aware of - that stems from very easy access to (and modest pricing of) alcohol. Price rises may help to ameliorate this problem. Anything that stops any town centre in England on a Friday or Saturday night from turning into a 'no go' zone for the majority of the population has to be a good thing in my eyes.