Meeting of the Parliament 04 June 2015
As a former member of the Health and Sport Committee, I am pleased to participate in the debate. I sat on the committee for a number of years, and I was heavily engaged in tackling Scotland’s relationship with alcohol. Although I am no longer a member of that committee, the issue remains very much on my agenda.
I come to the debate as someone who does not actually drink alcohol; I have been a non-drinker all my life. Actually, that is not quite true: I once got drunk in Greece after sampling a local drink called retsina. It was certainly very nice, but I failed to heed the warnings from my friends that it was a very potent tipple. I was drinking to taste, not for the effect, but, not being accustomed to alcohol, my constitution could not handle the effects. Would I drink retsina again if I returned to Greece? Yes, I am sure that I would, as I love Greece and its people, but I will approach retsina very cautiously in future.
I have no hang-ups about people who enjoy a drink. In fact, I believe in what my mother taught me long ago, which was that a little of what you fancy does you good. Drink in moderation and enjoy it, is my advice. I believe that a little alcohol can actually be beneficial for people, but we should beware of the danger of excessive drinking, which I call the Scottish disease.
It is clear from looking at the stats that, when it comes to the misuse and overuse of alcohol, there are significant problems that urgently need to be tackled. If we do not want to address the issue for ourselves, surely we have a responsibility to sort it out for our young people. We need to make the step change right now so that they appreciate that not taking up the habit is much easier than giving it up.
I have—or, I should say, had—some very close friends who had enormous talents, particularly in the arts, but could not function without drinking alcohol, which they did right up until they could not function in the arts world at all because of their reliance, and it ultimately led them to their graves. That was such a loss and a tragedy, not only for them but for their families and society as a whole. I am sure that I am not alone in the chamber in having experienced such tragic circumstances.
I recognise that kicking a habit is not easy, whether it involves drugs, alcohol, smoking, gambling or even food. If it was that easy, the highly talented and intelligent people whom I knew would not have succumbed to addiction in the first place. On the other hand, with good support—if it is accepted, of course—for those who need it and with their determination, things can turn out for the best. When I was very young, my father was an extremely heavy drinker, like so many of his generation. He was certainly a great man without the drink but Mr Hyde with it. He woke up one day and decided to stop drinking. Yes, he would still have the odd beer but it would be only one and he never sunk back into his earlier excesses. The benefits to him as an individual were immense. His appearance, his mood and his manner changed: he was a new man. However, the benefits for my family, particularly my mother, were life changing: we were a happy family. We were not wealthy, but what we had was well spent.
That story is one that numbers of people can relate to but, sadly, too many cannot as they have never experienced the positive changes that can happen when someone stops drinking. Sadly, comparing the alcohol stats for Scotland with those for nearly every developed country in the world backs up that point, so no one can argue that a change is not needed. Scotland consumes a huge amount of alcohol—for example, recorded consumption in 2010 was twice the world average and well above the European regional average. That consumption is having a detrimental impact on the health of our people. Indeed, Scotland’s overall death rate from liver cirrhosis in 2010 was around 40 per cent higher than the European Union average.
I am pleased that the Scottish Government has not sat idly by but has been aggressively engaged in tackling the problem head on. Policies such as a ban on quantity discounts in off-sales that encourage customers to buy more than they might have done and the implementation of restrictions on where material promoting alcohol may be displayed are having a positive impact. However, more must be done, and the Scottish Government’s framework for action outlines that in detail.
Urgent change is required if we are to break our country’s relationship with alcohol. I commend the motion and the Labour amendment to Parliament.
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