Scots plan to stop cheap alcohol

Scots plan to stop cheap alcohol

news.bbc.co.uk

Measures to tackle alcohol abuse by stopping cut-price offers have been outlined by the Scottish Government.

It has proposed a range of measures including the radical step of a minimum price per unit. It would be the first country in Europe to take the step.

The minority government said it also plans to ban discount deals on alcohol.

SNP ministers backed down from raising the age buying drink from off-sales to 21 - but will create powers for that to be imposed on a local basis.

(visit the link for the full news article)

I think this is a horrible decision, but somewhat predictable. Again, the UK is being used as testing grounds for TPTB - one can't help but draw parallels with prohibition and the great depression in the States.

What really annoyed me even more upon hearing this today was listening to Nicola Sturgeon herself on a BBC Radio 5 interview stating that, "Intelligent, responsible drinkers will not be affected by the new laws. The alcohol they drink is not cheap already and therefore unchanged"... now if that is not elitist/class discrimination I don't know what is. The poor will be hit hardest by this as ever, her suggestion that anyone who chooses to drink cheaper alcohol is less intelligent is outrageous in my opinion. What about those who simply can't afford a posh bottle of imported vino from France?

The only positive I can see is that the other parties were wholly unsupportive of the plans to raise the the legal age to 21, she grudgingly conceded defeat on the radio but couldn't resist a parting shot stating that they will push for individual councils to do "the right thing" or words to that extent.

More evidence of the NWO ignoring the people's voices and pushing their own agenda or just overreaction?

news.bbc.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 2-3-2009 by Goathief]

Come on now...the pandemic not just in Scotland but the whole of the Uk is cultural,you aint gonna stop the friday saturday night *binge* drinkers by passing silly laws like this.

Part of the Scottish Government's argument re price increases being needed was that Supermarkets were selling lager cheaper that bottled water. The actual lager in question was sold in Tesco for 21p per can and was 2% alcohol, barely stronger than Shandy. What makes me laugh is that the teenagers I see getting smashed at the weekend are all drinking cider or strong lager which averages anywhere between 7% and 9%. They also at one point proposed that a unit of alcohol should be priced at 30p. Given that 9% lager is listed as containing 4 1/2 units of alcohol, it would therefore cost £1.35 per can, as opposed to it's current price of £1.45 per can ! Joined up Government indeed

Based on the behavior of British tourists here in the US, I can hardly blame the government for wanting to take this action, drunkeness and the resulting lewd public behavior seems to be a way of life for them.

They are not however the first European nation to take such steps, in Sweden all alcohol sales are regulated by the government through the state owned chain of Systembolaget (spelling?) liquor stores, and the price of alcoholic beverages is prohibitively high, Scandinavians it seems have something of a drink problem as well.

how stupid and pointless.

this will not solve anything.

The did this is Tacoma, Washington about 6 years ago to clean up a 3 mile stretch of the the university/commerce sector right downtown. I hardly think the problem stems from the U.K. They do this to push the alcoholics, drug addicts, drug dealers, panhandlers and homeless away. Public safety issue rather than N.W.O. I'm afraid. Take away the supply and there is no demand. This is not directed at college frat parties, but taking cheap booze away from already self destructive people.

It's 'Class A' drugs they want to be clamping down on. Yes, pisscans can be a genuine nuisance and city centres can be a nightmare due to drink-fuelled violence but when it comes to 'substances + crime', drinking is nowhere near the issue that is hard drugs. Burglaries and theft from cars are practically driven by drug addiction.

reply to post by Merriman Weir


All drugs should be legal,except for synthetics..people used poppy pods in tea for thousands of years..then man came along and made heroin,natives used coco leaves as a salad and chewed on them then came along crack/coc aine...alcohol kills more people each year than synthetics do.Nature beats man made synthetics everytime...

So scotland is the american south now? We have many states that don't allow discount alcohol. Raising prices will do nothing. They should attack the reasons behind alcohol abuse. I can almost gurantee it is not cause it is cheap. "Let's make it more expensive then less people will get drunk as mu" Yeah, like two people. Making drugs completely illegal really worked didn't it?

Basically whoever they are appeasing with this measure are gonna come back in six months and go "It's not working, we need to do more, we ned to enforce stricter alcohol guidelines."

Yeah cause that's what you need.

Originally posted by Solomons
reply to post by Merriman Weir

 

All drugs should be legal,except for synthetics..people used poppy pods in tea for thousands of years..then man came along and made heroin,natives used coco leaves as a salad and chewed on them then came along crack/coc aine...alcohol kills more people each year than synthetics do.Nature beats man made synthetics everytime...

I don't really care, to be honest. That's not the argument I'm making.

My point was, that if this law is based on any idea about clamping down on crime generally, then alcohol is the wrong substance.

Another 'stealth tax' in my opinion.

This won't solve anything.

So responsible drinkers pay more and irresponsible drinkers pay more.

Like that's gonna cure the problem

Finally good news, of course here and there I drink my beer, a good redwine or whatever else there is, but lets face the facts. Thousands of people die because of irresponsible alcohol abuse, or because of such consequences, and the only solution without banning it straight from the market would be to raise its price or to tax it higher than already. Not only would car accidents, for instance, rapidly decrease, but also minors will have a harder time obtaining large amounts of alcohol! I live in Germany and of course the drinking culture is very high here, but I wouldn't mind paying 20-30% more for my bottle of wine/beer....
And lets not forget that alcohol is one of the most destructive drugs out there, its not only harmful to the body but also the chance of getting addicted is very high, believe me, I'm experienced with such cases on friends, family members and myself.
And btw, I think the same way about cigarettes, tax them higher, and be happy not to be able to buy a package every single day.

I'm sure it will be the gov't who gets the added monies from a price increase.

They don't give a damn about the problem drinkers, as Namu said, "just another stealth tax.

Just one more reason to start making the stuff yourself. Homebrew anyone?
I agree that problem drinking is real, and drug addiction is real, but upping the price only increases the hurt for those involved.
There are other approaches to abuse and addiction that do not have to penalize everyone.
This is in the end just as others have said - a means of increasing gov. coffers.

reply to post by Clairaudience


But the problem is, even if people can't afford to buy them every day that's not going to stop them. They'll just spend less elsewhere so they can still afford to drink or smoke. Especially if they're addicted, and that applies to socially or psychologically addicted as well as physically addicted.

This is not the solution.

Look at other countries - France, Italy, Germany etc. The drinking laws are much more relaxed, alcohol is cheaper and the legal drinking age is lower. They don't have so much of an issue.

So lets take Sweden, a country that long suffered from high alcoholism. So they heavily regulate shops that sell alcohol and put up the price. Does is stop people drinking? No. Did it cut alcoholism? No.

We need to look at the reason behind it rather that just charge more money. Then people that are causing no harm again get reprimanded by the government for actually being good citizens.

We live in a culture where we chastize the many because of the faults of the few. It needs to stop. The nazis would be proud.


[edit on 3-3-2009 by Nammu]

.......yes it will happen when the trees stop growing and the earth stops spinning....

i spend 5 years there and this sounds highly unlikely...

who s next?

Ireland?

These new regulations are nothing to do with helping people or cutting binge drinking..

lets start a couple of years back, people were going to the pubs to have a drink, now I don't know the figures but I'm guessing that the money that goes to the government from alcohol bought in a pub is less that from an off-license.... so since the smoking ban came in to play more an more people are staying home to have their weekly drink, evidenced by the numbers of pubs and clubs closing. so to re-cupe the lost revenue they raise the price of take aways.

As to the age stuff.. An 18 year old can buy alcohol but if they don't look 21 they will be asked for I.D. This could be A long term way to bring in A the national I.D. card, at some point legislation will be passed that the I.D. card will be the only acceptable proof of identity, a lot of places already wont accept passports or driving license, It needs to have your current address and not everyone sends these off when moving house......

A big jump from putting the price of a can of lager up you might say....but a butterfly flapping can result in a tornado.....and ,hey, I'm a conspiracy nut...lol