News
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- AFS Welcomes Parliamentary Vote to Increase MUP
- AFS welcomes HSCSC vote in favour of increasing MUP
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- Response to questions regarding AFS funding
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- Unacceptable rise in alcohol-specific deaths
- Health experts share concerns about complaint made on MUP evaluation
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- Challenge and Change: Lived Experience Voices on Alcohol Marketing
- Blog post for Alcohol Awareness Week 2023
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- Doctors say lack of response on alcohol deaths could spell disaster for Scotland
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- ONS figures show highest alcohol deaths on record
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- New licensing policy review guide
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- Report on alcohol sales and harm in Scotland during the COVID-19 pandemic
- Sugar content in wine revealed
- Alcohol hospital admissions lower during pandemic
- Study reveals those already at risk from heavy drinking bought more alcohol during lockdowns
- Alcohol policy measures could reduce ambulance callouts
- Widespread support for calls to increase minimum unit price for alcohol to 65p
- Three quarters of Scots back new controls to help protect children from alcohol advertising
- More accurate estimates for the burden of Alcohol on the Ambulance Service: around 1 in 6 callouts in Scotland are alcohol related
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- Health experts call for better alcohol labelling
- Young people and their views on alcohol marketing
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- AFS calls for 65p minimum unit price for alcohol
- How will the main parties prevent harm from alcohol?
- Alcohol labelling reform is way past its sell by date
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- Young drinkers believe prominent health warnings on alcohol could boost risk awareness
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- How can we prevent alcohol deaths?
- Alcohol Deaths and Minimum Unit Pricing
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- Alcohol Deaths Prevention Support
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- Alcohol Focus Scotland welcomes new WHO report on alcohol pricing
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- Statistical analysis of off-trade alcohol sales in the year following MUP
- Alcohol Focus Scotland Review of statements of licensing policy 2018 to 2023
- We need to continue long-term focus on alcohol
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- New evidence demonstrates that alcohol ads lead to youth drinking
- Alcohol sales fall in first year of MUP
- First study published into under 18 drinkers post MUP
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- Scotland publishes first UK guidelines for diagnosing fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD)
- The Alcohol Framework 2018 Preventing Harm
- Scotlands new drug and alcohol strategy launched
- AFS welcome new alcohol strategy
- Recent reporting on alcohol sales data
- Diageo is failing to provide latest guidelines on their products
- Drinks companies keeping consumers in dark about risky drinking
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- Truer picture of alcohol harm revealed
- Alcohol causes 3,700 deaths in Scotland every year
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- Minimum pricing blog
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- Concern over alcohol-related deaths
- We need to make it easier for people to drink less
- Worrying rise in alcohol-related deaths
- Minimum pricing will save lives
- Pocket money prices for alcohol continue
- Scotland's alcohol problem laid bare
- One drink a day can increase breast cancer risk
- Poverty linked to increased harm from alcohol
- SWA urged to respect minimum pricing decision
- Alcohol-free childhood is healthiest option
- SWA granted leave to appeal minimum pricing
- SWA will appeal to UK Supreme Court
- Minimum pricing can be implemented in Scotland
- Emergency services face shocking levels of alcohol abuse
- Every child has the right to grow up safe from alcohol harm
- Minimum pricing - European court ruling
Unacceptable rise in alcohol-specific deaths
1,276 people died in 2022 from causes solely attributable to alcohol according to figures published today, Tuesday 29 August 2023, by National Records of Scotland.
Alcohol Focus Scotland says this is "completely unacceptable" and that the Scottish Government must take action to combat the 40% reduction in access to specialist alcohol services.
Laura Mahon, deputy chief executive of Alcohol Focus Scotland, said, "For the third year in a row we've seen deaths caused by alcohol increasing. This is completely unacceptable, with each of these deaths being preventable. We need to be going further and faster in our efforts to reverse this appalling trend."
The figures represent an increase of 2% (31 deaths) on 2021, and an increase of 25% (256 deaths) on 2019. This means that 3 people a day or 24 people a week lose their lives because of alcohol in Scotland.
Laura added that "The impact of minimum unit pricing has been positive, and the number of alcohol-related deaths would be much higher without it. Increasing minimum unit pricing in line with inflation, at least to 65p would help save many more lives. We need to go further than one policy on its own though. The Scottish Government must deliver on the commitments made in the 2018 alcohol strategy. This includes a strong focus on preventing people from developing alcohol problems in the first place alongside urgent action to combat the 40% reduction in access to specialist alcohol services over the last decade."
Daniel Burns, Head of Vital Events Statistics at National Records of Scotland, said:
"Looking at the long term trend the number of deaths from alcohol-specific causes fell between 2006 and 2012 but has risen since and is now about the same as 2010 levels.
"In 2022, the average age at death for females from an alcohol-specific cause was 58.7 years and for males it was 60.0 years."
Male deaths continue to account for around two thirds of alcohol-specific deaths. However, female deaths increased by 31 to 440 deaths in 2022 while male deaths remained the same.
There are 4.3 times as many deaths from these causes in the most deprived communities as in the least deprived communities but this equality gap has been narrowing. This compares to a ratio of 1.8 times for all causes of death.
Scotland continued to have the highest alcohol-specific death rate of the UK constituent countries in 2021, the latest year for which comparable data exists. Data for the rest of the UK is yet to be released for 2022.