Meeting of the Parliament 04 June 2015
I was struck by Jim Eadie’s comment that Scotland is not an anti-alcohol nation; it is an anti-alcohol-abuse nation. That chimed neatly with the cabinet secretary’s points. She was right to point out the efforts that have been made to tackle alcohol abuse and to look at some of the successes that we have had.
It is also right to put that into some kind of context, as the cabinet secretary and others have done. Although our society has made progress, compared with other countries our record is still shocking. When I read the BMA briefing, I was struck by how bad some of the figures are. During the past 30 years in the UK, not just Scotland, UK cirrhosis mortality has risen by more than 450 per cent across the population, and Scotland now has one of the highest mortality rates in western Europe. As Jackson Carlaw said, we cannot be complacent, although we should retain a sense of realism and perspective.
We sometimes blur the lines when we talk about alcohol and we too quickly classify everyone as the same. That is not necessarily always the case. Going back to the idea that we are not an anti-alcohol nation, I note that in our everyday language—and, indeed, on radio and television—a good night out is associated with consuming huge amounts of alcohol. It is just accepted. When we talk in those terms—this is what I mean when I say that we blur the lines—we do not distinguish between those who abuse alcohol and the people mentioned by Jackson Carlaw who drink too much on a particular night out.
It is easy to look at those who have an alcohol problem; after all, that problem and its associated difficulties are very evident, and I will come back to that. However, one of the challenges that our society faces is how we deal with those to whom Jackson Carlaw referred—those who have not been classified as alcoholics, or as having an alcohol problem, but whose sporadic consumption of alcohol throughout the year can lead to longer-term problems. One of the groups at risk in that respect comprises people who are better educated and have better incomes. Indeed—and I do not want to appear sexist when I say this—that group includes young women, who now have the economic wherewithal and purchasing power that they might not have had in years gone by. I have seen in my own family and social circles young women on specific occasions and nights out drinking far more than my mother’s generation would ever have contemplated.