A Pound a Pint? I’ll Get This Round!

This week it was reported that Sir Liam Donaldson, the Chief Medical Officer for England, has recommended that there should be a minimum price of 50p per unit of alcohol in England. The Scottish government is already pressing ahead with moves to make strong, cheap drink such as white cider and full-strength lager less affordable and less available.

If you prefer to enjoy your favourite tipple down the local pub then this recommendation, if acted upon, will have no detrimental impact on the cost of your social life. It is not aimed at penalising either the pub trade or the pub goer. If your preference is a nice bottle of wine in the confines of your home, your wallet will not be hit. The recommendation is specifically directed at curbing the availablity of cheap booze in supermarkets and off licenses. This is where most youngsters, people who are already alcohol dependent and those who are en route to alcohol dependency buy their stock.

Sir Liam makes no claim that his proposal provides a single magic bullet to wipe out the scourge of binge drinking and other social problems caused by the minority who either cannot control their consumption of alcohol, or who choose not to. He is not suggesting that it will do anything to stop the guy who drinks heavily in the pub every night from continuing to do just that. This measure is not proposed as an alternative to educating young people about the devastating potential consequences of alcoholism.

On Tuesday, the Prime Minister had something to say on the subject of this recommendation: ”As we crack down on binge and underage drinking, it’s also right that we take action that is properly targeted and effective. And we do not want the responsible, sensible majority of moderate drinkers to have to pay more or suffer as a result of the excesses of a small minority.”

The following day David Cameron pretty much nodded in agreement with the PM. Why did they say that moderate drinkers will suffer when clearly they won’t ? The proposal is not some kind of puritanical punishment on the entire population. It’s implementation would have little or no effect on the purse of the moderate drinker.

Political expediency is the only logical answer, I’m afraid..The idea that Sir Liam’s proposal represents a punishment on the majority for the sins of the minority is fallacious. We’re in recession, there’s a general election next year, it wouldn’t make for good headlines, the wrath of the big supermarkets, and so on. Come to think of it, what is actually being done to ‘crack down’ on binge and underage drinking? Perhaps we should leave that question to another day and set aside what our political leaders have to say for now. They have other fish to fry.

Some of us are inclined to believe that those in authority, whose job it is to deliver new proposals, have a tendency to reach absurd conclusions. I’m sure that’s true, some of the time. Unfortunately, those of us who are are so inclined also display a tendency to formulate, often quite quickly, alternative conclusions based on our own often limited knowledge and experience of the subject at hand.

Donaldson has been Chief Medical Officer since 1998. He has Chaired The World Alliance for Patient Safety since it’s launch in 2004. Before becoming Chief Medical Officer, Sir Liam held posts in hospital medicine and surgery, General Practice, public health, academic medicine, and health care management. What does he say about himself and his role? “I represent the Government, for which I work, the medical profession, which I try to listen to, and the public. My moral principle is that if ever there is a conflict it is the public who wins.”*

Some may feel relieved that we left our political leaders behind before we introduced the concept of moral principle. That aside, the CMO clearly has much more expertise, experience and information to hand on the subject than the rest of us. He has the resources, and likely the know-how, to define what action is likely to effectively target the causes of the increasing spread of a disease such as alcoholism. That is a critical part of his job. Perhaps we should listen to him.

*Source: http://www.dh.gov.uk