Meeting of the Parliament 04 June 2015
Absolutely. I agree with Jenny Marra. I took on board what she said. There is a slight interpretation issue, but I absolutely agree with her. I said that the 56 MPs—which is more than the SNP has ever had before—will make a big difference; indeed, they are making a difference just now. I agree that the issue is not just in Scotland but throughout the UK; unfortunately, however, we cannot deal with what is on our TV screens.
As I said, we need to look at alcohol’s cheapness and minimum pricing.
I want to concentrate on the human costs of alcohol abuse, whether the person is an alcoholic or a long-term heavy drinker.
Jim Eadie had an excellent event last night. I was not able to go to it, but I went to the stall—I see that the people involved are in the gallery. Serenity cafe does a fantastic amount of work, and lots of such work goes on in every member’s constituency. In my constituency, Partick healthy living centre runs film nights, music nights and club nights without alcohol. I will give members an example of how welcome that is. A lady who was at one of the nights said to me that she had not been out with her husband for many years—they could not go out to a pub simply because he had a drink problem. For once, they were able to go out—they went to a club night and enjoyed the music. That is really positive.
Another issue that we have to look at is one on which I know Serenity cafe has done work, as has the addiction service in St Vincent Crescent in my area. I have spoken to people at that service—obviously, I will not name them, but they include a gentleman who had a drink problem but was able to come off alcohol. He had many friends, who obviously liked a drink, and they would go to one another’s houses. When he came off alcohol, he stayed in the same environment, and he had to still let them into his house or he would not have friends. One night when his friends came round, he locked himself in the bathroom simply because, if he had not done so, he would have succumbed to alcohol again.
We therefore have to look at social care and healthcare. Someone can manage to get off their alcohol addiction but they may stay in the same environment with the same people because it is very difficult for them to get away. Perhaps all members have constituents who have experience of that.
One lady who, unfortunately, had an alcohol problem ended up being not very well at all. She was a very successful businesswoman, but lost her house, business, family and grandchildren. I think that we all have such constituents. Alcohol misuse is a terrible issue that we need to take seriously.
A number of facts and figures have been mentioned. Alcohol has a human cost, not only a cost for the economy, and for the people who are affected by alcohol addiction and for their families the cost is absolutely tremendous.
I agree with one of the points that Hugh Henry made regarding young women. It is something that we have to tackle and we must look at the cultural aspects of alcohol consumption in Scotland. Education for everyone, from young to old, can certainly be useful. As I said, there is to be an advertising campaign to show the harm of alcohol and the effect that it can have on families.
I thank all members for their contributions and I thank the Government for bringing the debate to the chamber today. I look forward to moving on and releasing some of the negative aspects of the cultural love affair that Scotland has with alcohol.
16:05