News
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- New release of alcohol related hospital admissions
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- Alcohol Deaths Prevention Support
- Almost half of Scots in favour of minimum unit pricing
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- Leading health charities call for action in Scotland
- Health experts campaign for better understanding of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder
- Health experts call for alcohol labelling overhaul
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- Alcohol Focus Scotland welcomes new WHO report on alcohol pricing
- Statistical analysis of off-trade alcohol sales in the year following MUP
- Alcohol Focus Scotland Review of statements of licensing policy 2018 to 2023
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- We need to continue long-term focus on alcohol
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- First study published into under 18 drinkers post MUP
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- Alcohol related hospital admissions for 2018 to 2019
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- New Alcohol Deaths Prevention Support Now Available from AFS
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- Alcohol sales and MUP
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- Alcohol marketing and children debate in the Scottish Parliament
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- AFS publish Review of Licensing Board Annual Functions Reports 2017-2018
- Marketing unmasked dispelling the myths and taking a stand
- No place for alcohol marketing in sport
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- Scotland publishes first UK guidelines for diagnosing fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD)
- The Alcohol Framework 2018 Preventing Harm
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- AFS welcome new alcohol strategy
- Recent reporting on alcohol sales data
- Cross-Party Group Improving Scotland's health: 2021 and beyond October 2018
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- Drinks companies keeping consumers in dark about risky drinking
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- AFS welcomes minimum unit pricing for alcohol
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- Alcohol causes 3,700 deaths in Scotland every year
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- Minimum pricing blog
- Minimum pricing gets green light
- Reflections on GAPC 2017
- Alcohol brands and young people
- Time for honest conversations about alcohol
- Q&A on alcohol marketing
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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
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- Poverty linked to increased harm from alcohol
- What next for reducing alcohol harm in Scotland?
- Scotland must do more to turn tide of alcohol harm
- Concern as funding for alcohol services cut
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- Scottish Government urged to curb alcohol marketing
- Consumers have the right to know health risks
- Chancellor urged to tackle cheap, strong cider in Budget
- Online help for families affected by alcohol
- Alcohol-free childhood is healthiest option
- SWA granted leave to appeal minimum pricing
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- Scottish Government receives European alcohol award
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- Half of alcohol being sold under 50p per unit
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- Alcohol and mental health are closely linked
- Minimum pricing can be implemented in Scotland
- Alcohol sold at pocket money prices
- Scotland has so much to gain from reducing how much we drink
- AFS welcomes revised alcohol consumption guidelines
- Emergency services face shocking levels of alcohol abuse
- Every child has the right to grow up safe from alcohol harm
- Public health must prevail over big business
- New toolkit to help children affected by family alcohol problems
- Price check reveals cheap cost of strong alcohol
- Sales increase underlines need for minimum pricing
- Time to kick alcohol out of sport
- Alcohol linked with stomach cancer
- AFS calls for compulsory health warnings on alcoholic drinks
- Are supermarkets 'responsible retailers' when it comes to alcohol?
- Scottish health charities call for excise duty rise to tackle cheap alcohol
- Alcohol campaigners unite to call for stronger protection from alcohol advertising to children
- New resource for people concerned about alcohol in their community
- Minimum pricing decision delayed until summer
- No completely 'safe' level of drinking
- New alcohol guidelines published
- Minimum pricing - European court ruling
- Alcohol fuels ambulance assaults
- 82% of Scots agree drink driving is unacceptable
- Scotland's alcohol strategy - what next?
- Scotland leads way in evidence-based alcohol policy
- New report reveals impact of alcohol on emergency services
- Alcohol: a global concern
Are supermarkets 'responsible retailers' when it comes to alcohol?
Can our big supermarkets really claim to be ‘responsible retailers’ when it comes to how they sell alcohol?
Around three quarters of all alcohol drunk in Scotland is now bought from off-licences – mainly supermarkets. This shift to people drinking at home rather than in the pub has been driven by supermarkets selling alcohol at such low prices that pubs simply can’t compete.
Supermarkets dedicate a huge amount of shelf space to alcohol – ‘pile it high, sell it cheap’ seems to be their philosophy. While supermarkets are no longer allowed to display alcohol across the store, shoppers still have to walk past the alcohol aisles to get to essentials like bread and milk. These shoppers include children who can’t legally purchase alcohol, people who are alcohol dependent and people recovering from alcohol problems.
Given that alcohol is an age-restricted, addictive product that causes a great deal of harm, perhaps it’s time to think about selling it from a completely separate area within a store, as is the case with tobacco products. Other countries go further and have specialist alcohol retailers. In Sweden, for example, the government-owned Systembolaget is the only retail store allowed to sell alcoholic drinks stronger than 3.5% alcohol by volume.
Premium products?
Supermarkets claim to be responsible retailers but some of the products they stock suggests otherwise. Tesco’s ‘everyday value’ lager is completely inappropriate as alcohol should never be viewed as an everyday product, while Sainsbury’s ‘basics’ range suggests that vodka and gin should be considered as basic shopping items. Who do drinks like Berry Daiquiri pouches or shots of Vodka Mix Strawberries & Cream appeal to? “Responsible drinkers” as the producers and retailers claim - or teenage girls? What about cans of super strength lager and 3 litre bottles of strong white cider? Addiction services say these are typically drunk by our heaviest drinkers, often those in our most deprived communities.
Although Scotland banned ‘3 for 2’ and other multi-buy price promotions for alcohol five years ago, supermarkets quickly altered the price of individual drinks to keep prices low. Alcohol is constantly promoted on the basis of price alone - “Roll back”, “Big deals”, “Great prices” scream from the shelves. So-called ‘premium brands’ are certainly not being treated as premium products by the supermarkets.
Cheap vodka and cider
In terms of sales, vodka, not whisky, is Scotland’s national drink. It’s cheap vodka that the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) are defending by taking the Scottish Government to court over minimum pricing. The majority of the SWA’s members are global producers who make huge profits from drinks other than whisky. It remains to be seen whether the SWA’s legal challenge to minimum pricing, a policy which enjoys widespread public and political support, damages their reputation. In the long-term surely the ‘iconic’ image of Scotch is better served by being on the side of responsible pricing, not in defending cheap vodka and cider?
Politicians across the Scottish Parliament understood the evidence linking price, consumption and harm when they passed minimum unit pricing legislation. It is a targeted measure which will increase the price of the cheapest, strongest, most harmful drinks in corner shops and supermarkets. Pubs will not be affected by minimum pricing as drinks already cost more than 50p per unit.
While minimum pricing has been delayed, on average, twenty two Scots have died because of alcohol every single week. It’s people living in our most deprived communities who suffer the most; they are eight times more likely to need hospital treatment and six times more likely to die because of alcohol.
The other tool available to increase the price of alcohol is to increase excise duty. This is not a substitute for minimum unit pricing which is targeted at the cheapest end of the market, but it is an important and complementary measure. Excise duty is reserved to Westminster and it was really disappointing that the Chancellor froze duty on beer, cider and spirits in the recent Budget. This simply doesn’t make sense when there is so much pressure on our NHS and other public services. Once again, industry arguments about protecting their profits have been listened to over the doctors, nurses, police and children’s groups who demand action on cheap alcohol.
Governments have a duty to protect and improve the health of their citizens, and that includes taking action against harmful practices by big business. The Scottish Government is to be applauded for its efforts to implement minimum pricing but by freezing alcohol duty, the UK Government has failed to play its part.
Alison Douglas, Chief Executive, Alcohol Focus Scotland