Drink Minimum charge per unit?

[Wij]

The UK has gone through loads of cycles of drinking more and drinking less. We are probably approaching an alcoholic maximum in this cycle and will over the next generation swing back down again. It's got feck all to do with taxes, it's just how a generation sees their parents society and decides "fuck that".

Actually alcohol consumption has been declining for years. It's in the article I posted.

 

[Chilly]

Fair enough, presumably it will continue to do so for a while.

 

[Talivar]

A agree that people should be able to drink like a fish if they choose or smoke themselfs to death or eat ect, but they also shouldnt expect the NHS to come along and fix them when it goes wrong, and thats the big problem atm, ppl demand rights to do whatever they want but expect goverment to pay the bill for it.

 

[rynnor]

Its just another tax dressed in unrealistic "health" claims.

If alcohol gets too expensive it makes cheap drugs more attractive.

 

[Wij]

A agree that people should be able to drink like a fish if they choose or smoke themselfs to death or eat ect, but they also shouldnt expect the NHS to come along and fix them when it goes wrong, and thats the big problem atm, ppl demand rights to do whatever they want but expect goverment to pay the bill for it.

Yes. There should be no right to free healthcare to drinkers or smokers. Or climbers. Or horse-riders. Or people who drive. Or people who eat crisps. Or don't exercise exactly the right amount. It was their choice. Fuckers.

 

[Wij]

Its just another tax dressed in unrealistic "health" claims.

If alcohol gets too expensive it makes cheap drugs more attractive.

Back to glue sniffing then?

 

[Jeros]

/conservative on

Such low priced alcohol is the primary domain of the working class, one must ask.

Why should people of such........low breeding, be permitted to drink at all!

/conservative off

 

[megadave]

So how much can I expect to pay for my breakfast can of special brew?

 

[Chilly]

wij has home-made "special brew" he sell you on the cheap.

 

[old.Tohtori]

*looks at store*

6-8€ for cheapo beer 6pack only from 9am to 9pm.

*looks at thread*

 

[cHodAX]

The unit increases are not going to cause alcohol based crime to feed habits ffs, have you seen the price increases? They're not exactly huge.

They're simply doing this to stop supermarkets and really budget beer makers being able to make and sell beer for about the same price of water. It'll only make a difference at the very pikey end of the market.

No, it will price the cheaper bottles of vodka at £15, the premium brands will put distance between themselves and the cheap stuff whilst driving up profits for themselves and revenue for taxman. We will all pay, right across the board.

 

[Krazeh]

No, it will price the cheaper bottles of vodka at £15, the premium brands will put distance between themselves and the cheap stuff whilst driving up profits for themselves and revenue for taxman. We will all pay, right across the board.

How much vodka is in these cheaper bottles to force the price up to £15?

 

[cHodAX]

How much vodka is in these cheaper bottles to force the price up to £15?

One litre of shit, single distilled 'white spirit' vodka is going to be priced at £15 a bottle according to what I read on the BBC...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17482035

That is a 50% price increase and takes it into the price range of mid-range vodka such as Smirnoff, there is bound to be a knock on effect as the big brands look to distance themselves from the low end. The government are handing the corporations the perfect excuse to price gouge customers who want to drink something that won't burn thier guts off and at the same time raking in a turdload of extra revenue from alcohol duty. So, people like myself who won't drink the crap are going to be paying alot more for the same product before long, all in the name of controlling binge drinking which is an rapidly becoming an urban legend when you take into account the FACT tha alcohol consumption in the U.K. has been fallling year on year for over a decade.

 

[Cadelin]

Actually alcohol consumption has been declining for years. It's in the article I posted.

While this may be true, it's misleading and it's not the reason why a minimum price per unit is being introduced. We have an aging population so its not surprising that a bunch of 60+ year old people are drinking less than they used too. Also the concern is not really the total amount people drink, but rather the amount people drink in a short space of time.

Possibly a better measure of this would be the number of alcohol related admissions to hospital. Information on this is easily available:
http://www.lape.org.uk/natind.html
Taking some numbers from there:
In financial year 2002/03 there were 510 780 admission episodes for alcohol-attributable conditions.
In financial year 2010/11 there were 1 173 386 admission episodes for alcohol-attributable conditions.
For the last 10 years hospital admissions have been going up by around 10% per year and in total have almost doubled. Clearly there is a problem here which needs to be addressed. I know many people who work in hospitals and they say they are having to deal with more and more alcohol related problems.

Personally I don't drink, so I have no idea what the best way to reduce this behaviour. I do however think its silly to pretend that the problem of binge drinking doesn't exist or that it doesn't need to be tackled.

 

[Raven]

I like to think of it as Darwinism. If you drink so much that you need a visit to the hospital then quite frankly, you should be left to get on with it.

 

[megadave]

Won't most be injuries caused while under the influence?

 

[Tom]

No, it will price the cheaper bottles of vodka at £15, the premium brands will put distance between themselves and the cheap stuff whilst driving up profits for themselves and revenue for taxman. We will all pay, right across the board.

Funny, I seem to recall the price of spirits was about that price in the early 90s.

http://www.ifs.org.uk/docs/alcohol_prices.pdf