AFS joins SHAAP in calling for urgent action to tackle alcohol emergency

Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems (SHAAP) and Alcohol Focus Scotland (AFS) have demanded urgent action from the Scottish Government to tackle alcohol harms in a letter sent to Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care, Neil Gray MSP.

One of the recommendations of Audit Scotland’s 2024 report on alcohol and drug services was that by mid-2025 the Scottish Government must “work with key stakeholders to identify and agree actions to increase focus and funding for tackling alcohol-related harm, while continuing to tackle drug-related harm”. The letter calls for the Scottish Government to set out how it will achieve this.

The Scottish Government declared alcohol harms to be a public health emergency in 2021 and while some action has been taken since then, such as the uprating of MUP in September 2024, there has not been the ambition nor urgency required to address the scale of the problem.

Dr Alastair MacGilchrist, Chair of SHAAP commented: 

“Scotland continues to face an unacceptable level of alcohol related harm, with 1,277 people losing their lives to alcohol in 2023. This requires an emergency response but so far, we haven’t seen one from the Scottish Government.

“For too long the drugs deaths crisis has overshadowed alcohol. The dual problems of alcohol and drugs harms are equally important, but they need to be tackled differently. Treatment for alcohol problems often differs from treatment for drug problems so relying on National Mission on Drugs Deaths money to improve services for alcohol problems is not going to work.

“We need a dedicated alcohol strategy which sets out a package of measures designed to tackle the price, marketing and availability of alcohol. This should be matched by increased investment in treatment services and recovery organisations.”


Laura Mahon, Deputy CEO of Alcohol Focus Scotland said:

“We welcome the extra investment in alcohol and other drugs announced following the budget deal struck by the Scottish Government, Liberal Democrats and Greens. However, it remains unclear to what extent this will enable the increase in focus on alcohol harm recently identified as needed by the Auditor General.

“Alcohol presents a uniquely different challenge to other drugs, with around one million Scots currently drinking at levels which are potentially harmful to their health and increasing their risk of dying from alcoholic liver disease or alcohol related cancers. It is crucial to recognise that a large proportion of alcohol specific deaths are not in dependent drinkers – but come as a consequence of lifetime of heavy alcohol use.

“The Scottish Government needs to be clear on how it will address the issues identified by the Auditor General, ensure specified investment in alcohol harm prevention and alcohol treatment as well as working with stakeholders to bring forward a comprehensive and credible plan for how they will achieve this.”

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The figures

£5-10 billion
Amount that alcohol use costs Scotland per year
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