Here's a guest blog from our friends at The Drinker's Alliance:
So the latest edict from politicians in London and Edinburgh is that they should decide how much alcohol should cost to try to control how much we all drink. Despite all the legislation already out there to deal with shops that sell to the underage, or bars and clubs that contribute to anti-social behaviour, politicians seem to think that writing even more laws that punish everyone is the solution.
Like so many Government-led debates, the average punter who enjoys a pint or a bottle of wine with friends, continues to be ignored.
The Drinkers Alliance, is a new platform recently launched to give everyone a chance to make their views heard on the debate on alcohol.
While opinion polls show that the public oppose higher taxes and support action to deal with problem drinking, politicians in London and Edinburgh are proposing measures that will punish everyone. And all this when the Government’s own statistics show alcohol consumption is actually going down! Some of the ideas currently being debated are:
- Increasing the age of sale of alcohol in shops from 18 to 21
- Introducing a minimum price for alcohol
- Restricting where alcohol can be positioned within shops
- Introducing separate check-out queues for alcohol
- Banning under 18s from serving alcohol at all in shops
These won’t make any difference to problem drinkers and will just be a massive hassle for everyone else. And they won’t do anything to actually enforce the laws we have or try to teach young people about the dangers of alcohol.
The Drinker's Alliance encourages ordinary people to get involved in the public debate on alcohol by providing tools to make their voices heard to politicians and the media. It’s really easy to sign up and you’ll be kept up to date on the campaign with regular emails and blogs. The Drinker's Alliance is here to give you a voice in the debate so sign up now and take a few minutes to invite your friends.
Make sure your voice is heard and don’t let the politicians ignore the ordinary drinker.
