News
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- Alcohol Deaths Prevention Support
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- Leading health charities call for action in Scotland
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- Health experts call for alcohol labelling overhaul
- Survey shows Scots lockdown drinking rise caused by stress
- 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
- Scotland needs to continue long-term focus on alcohol
- 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
- Commission on Alcohol Harm calls for evidence
- Two years on Are annual functions reports reaching their potential?
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- Alcohol related hospital admissions for 2018 to 2019
- Hitting the right note in training
- Minimum unit pricing update
- Scottish primary children call for action on alcohol
- New Alcohol Deaths Prevention Support Now Available from AFS
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- Making a bad impression - blog post
- Alcohol sales and MUP
- Alcohol-specific deaths 2018
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- Alcohol marketing and children debate in the Scottish Parliament
- Lowest alcohol sales in 25 years
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- The Children's Parliament investigates an alcohol-free childhood
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- Minimum unit pricing one year on
- More about sales data
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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
- Five pitfalls to avoid in evaluating training
- 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
- Cross-Party Group Improving Scotland's health: 2021 and beyond October 2018
- Diageo is failing to provide latest guidelines on their products
- Drinks companies keeping consumers in dark about risky drinking
- Reducing alcohol consumption can address health inequalities
- Alcohol-specific deaths remain at very high levels
- Oh Lila goes digital
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- AFS welcomes minimum unit pricing for alcohol
- Walker's crisp ad exposes children to alcohol marketing
- Truer picture of alcohol harm revealed
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- Alcohol causes 3,700 deaths in Scotland every year
- Last Christmas for heavily discounted alcohol
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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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- Quarter of Scots drink above guidelines
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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
- Cheap alcohol is costing Scotland dear
- One drink a day can increase breast cancer risk
- 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
- Budget: No change in alcohol duty
- 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
- Drink drive warning
- Scottish Greens call for action on alcohol marketing
- Scottish Government receives European alcohol award
- SWA will appeal to UK Supreme Court
- 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
We need to make it easier for people to drink less
The latest alcohol sales data show that last year, 10.5 litres of pure alcohol were sold per adult in Scotland.
That’s a massive 1,050 units of alcohol each – equivalent to 105 bottles of wine, 40 bottles of vodka or 456 pints of beer.
Every week, we are buying enough alcohol for every person in Scotland to substantially exceed the weekly drinking guideline. Weekly sales are 20.2 units of alcohol per adult, whereas the Chief Medical Officers’ recommend not regularly drinking more than 14 units in a week. Fourteen units is around six pints of beer, a bottle and a half of wine, or half a bottle of spirits.
If we look at how much alcohol is sold per drinker, rather than per adult, then the figure increases from 10.5 to 12.5 litres of pure alcohol – equivalent to 48 bottles of vodka a year. More of us now describe ourselves as non-drinkers, but those of us who do drink are drinking more.
Alcohol sales in Scotland are 17% higher than in England and Wales and the vast majority of this difference is due to higher off-trade sales in Scotland. In particular, we buy far more spirits from shops, especially vodka. Whisky may be our national drink but it’s vodka that we are buying and drinking more of.
Find out more - Alcohol sales data
Unsurprisingly, our higher overall consumption means we also suffer more alcohol-related hospital admissions and deaths than the rest of the UK.
Pubs, clubs and restaurants only account for about a quarter of total alcohol sales. We now buy most of our alcohol from supermarkets and corner shops. Retailers – with scant regard for the health or social consequences – use alcohol as a loss leader to attract customers; stacking it high and selling it cheap. The importance of price in shaping our drinking habits cannot be underestimated and that’s why increasing the price of the cheapest, most damaging drinks through a 50p minimum unit price is so vital.
Of course, while alcohol sales paint a useful - and worrying - national picture, we know that there are big differences in how much we drink individually. At one end of the spectrum, around one in five Scots don’t drink at all, while at the other end, heavy drinkers attending NHS treatment services in Glasgow and Edinburgh were consuming an average of 185 units of alcohol per week.
But it’s worth highlighting that one in four of us are regularly exceeding the recommended guidelines of 14 units per week. That’s one million people in Scotland putting themselves at increased risk of breast, bowel and oral cancers, stroke, liver disease and mental health problems.
All drinking carries a degree of risk and that risk generally increases in line with how much we consume. Chief Medical Officers advise spreading drinking over three days or more during the week to minimise the risk of accidents and injuries associated with heavy drinking sessions, and increasing how many alcohol-free days you have each week is a good way to cut down.
Benefits of drinking less
There are lots of benefits to drinking less, and even small changes can make a big difference. Checking the strength of drinks is important as brands can vary dramatically, or try some of the low alcohol and alcohol-free options that are now available. Watch out for bigger measures poured at home because it’s all too easy to be far more generous than a standard pub measure.
The short term paybacks of cutting down include improved mood, better sleep, more energy and more time to make the most of evenings and weekends rather than suffering the fuzzy head and nausea of a hangover. There’s also our waistlines to think about. Alcohol is full of calories, with one large glass of wine containing up to 200 calories - the same as a sugar doughnut.
The reality is that far too many of us are drinking at levels that endanger our health. We can all take a look at our own drinking habits to see if we would benefit from cutting down. But we also need to think more broadly about whether our national approach to reducing alcohol consumption is sufficient to the task.
The Scottish Government is due to publish the next phase of its alcohol strategy shortly and we hope it will contain bold action to reduce the availability and marketing of alcohol. Alcohol is available anytime, anyplace, anywhere and we’re encouraged to drink in every social situation. We can’t expect people to drink less without making it easier for them to do so.
Alison Douglas, Chief Executive, Alcohol Focus Scotland