Hansard

I welcome the opportunity to speak in the debate. I have listened with great interest to the contributors from around the chamber. I will focus most of my speech on the personal impact of alcohol dependency and misuse.

Scotland is currently ranked eighth in the world for alcohol consumption per head of population. According to the BMA, more than 1 million people in Scotland drink hazardously or harmfully. Scotland now has one of the highest cirrhosis mortality rates in western Europe. Indeed, every 15 minutes, someone in Scotland is hospitalised with an alcohol-related illness, which means that nine people will be hospitalised with an alcohol-related illness during this debate. Nine people this afternoon alone are now in hospital because of alcohol.

Scotland has a problem with alcohol—it cannot be denied and it must be tackled. With the cost of binge drinking estimated to be £4.9 billion throughout the United Kingdom and an average cost of £114 per accident and emergency visit, we must direct additional resources to education and prevention.

The results of the Scottish social attitudes survey in 2013 reveal just how uninformed many people in Scotland are about the amount of alcohol that they are consuming. One third of those questioned did not know what the daily guideline for alcohol consumption was for men and women and a further quarter got the daily guideline wrong. We must ensure that people are fully informed and educated on the effects and dangers of excessive alcohol consumption.

One danger that has long been identified is the link between alcohol and crime. In 2012, the Scottish consortium for crime and criminal justice found that 62 per cent of violent crime victims stated that their attackers were under the influence of alcohol. Furthermore, half of Scottish prisoners state that they were drunk at the time of committing their offence. Offenders are a particular concern as they are three times more likely than the general Scottish population to have an alcohol problem. That issue must be tackled and we must do all that we can to ensure that offenders do not end up with alcohol dependency after their release from prison.

It is crucial that we tackle alcohol dependency, not only because it affects the individual but because it affects their family and friends. We must take a more inclusive approach to helping individuals who suffer from alcohol abuse. Research by Scottish Families Affected by Alcohol and Drugs outlines the many benefits of involving families in their relative’s treatment and recovery. First, it increases the likelihood that an individual will enter treatment and remain in treatment longer. Secondly, it increases the likelihood that the individual receiving treatment will achieve their goals, both during and after rehabilitation. Finally, it improves the general wellbeing of family members by creating an environment in which an individual in recovery is less likely to return to alcohol dependency. It is imperative that we take the appropriate action to give family members the correct level of support in their own right to help with a relative’s addiction.

The average weekly consumption among harmful drinkers is considerably higher in Scotland’s lowest-income communities compared with the rest of the country. It is in our deprived communities where most harm is experienced. Many members will know that I spent 20 years working in retail. It was there that I witnessed the struggles of alcohol addiction and misuse that were faced daily by many customers. For example, if a customer did not have enough money to pay for basic food items, they would frequently return the essential items before they would return their cans of lager or cider or their bottle of vodka. On a daily basis, people picked alcohol over essential food. We all know the phrase, “Eating or heating”, but for many in society, it is “Eating or drinking”.

We regularly saw people waiting for the alcohol aisle to open in the morning so that they could purchase their first drink of the day. That serves as a reminder that, every day, people in every community, the length and breadth of this country, face a struggle with alcohol dependency. That is why it is crucial that we change the way in which we view alcohol and face up to the size of the challenge.

The final issue that I want to raise is the important issue of the abuse that is faced by retail staff. Again, from my time working in retail, I have first-hand experience of the kind of abuse that front-line workers receive every day from customers with alcohol problems. Across the UK, there are 2.7 million retail workers, and they regularly deal with abuse and violence. I accept that not all of it is caused by alcohol, but the vast majority of it is. Shop workers deal with abuse, threats, harassment and violence for simply upholding the law and refusing to sell alcohol to people who are already intoxicated. My union, the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers, has led on the issue with its freedom from fear campaign, which seeks to prevent violence, threats and abuse against retail staff, and its annual respect for shop workers week.

Alcohol affects almost everyone in society. For too long, some in Scotland have viewed people with alcohol problems as affable individuals who do no harm to anyone, without taking into account the harm that is done to the individual, their families and society. We need a fundamental change in Scotland’s relationship with alcohol, and we need it now.