March 2, 2009

Booze nation: Scotland's drinking crack-down

Per The Scotsman, the Scottish Government has unveiled a new range of proposals to cut down on the problems of alcohol binge drinking in Scotland. The BBC Scotland website reports that measures include minimum prices for alcohol, stopping special offers such as "two for one" on booze, and also raising the minimum age for buying alcohol in liquor stores to 21.

Twitter users have been pouring a drink and sitting down in front of the computer to express their thoughts on the subject:

@bidderb0y (United Kingdom) im wondering, if scotland are goig to set a minimum price per unit alcohol will we see scots booze cruising to england?



@neilcochrane (Glasgow, Scotland) raising the alcohol age to 21 is Scotland? the world's busiest Tesco, coming soon to Carlisle



@savescottishpub (Scotland) There may be progress in stamping down on cheap supermarket alcohol deals - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/




@kbuk (England) Return to find the Government now wishes to control the price of a drink in Scotland and up the age of consent. Prohibition anyone?

@kbuk Sadly, our liberties continue to be curtailed, even where the government is the cause of the Scots hiding in drink.

@fabulosity1 (London, England) Is impressed that they are taking minimum pricing of alcohol seriously in Scotland! Finally..



@Robie2002 (London, England) what was it we said about freedom & rights at the introduction of the smoking ban http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/



@finlays (Edinburgh, Scotland) It really is time I left the People's Republic of Scotland. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/



@MatthewEley (London) If minimum pricing goes ahead in Scotland does that mean it is inevitable in the rest of the country? http://is.gd/lpjc



Fitness magazine Men's Health UK tweets about a Scottish Government plan to use a puppet to teach eight and nine-year-olds about the dangers of alcohol abuse.

@MensHealthUK Rory the puppet is going to save Scotland's kids from the evils of booze. I'll drink to that.



Scottish Psychiatrist David Christmas also notes some other recent statistics on Scotland's drink culture:

@dchristmas (Dundee, Scotland) Cost of alcohol misuse (£2.25 billion per year) is more than 25% of all money spent on the NHS in Scotland. tinyurl.com/c9zku3

@dchristmas More alcohol woes in Scotland - alcohol-related hospital discharges up 20% in five years. tinyurl.com/c9zku3



And just to paint a more cheerful picture of life in Scotland, here's a great photograph by new Twitter user @ejbluefolds (Glenlivet, Scotland)


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