‘SCOTLAND has a problem with drink. Anyone reading this will know of someone, either in their immediate family or circle of friends, who has been affected at some point by alcohol.
Some say it’s in our genes. I don’t accept that, but as a nation we do have a peculiar fixation with alcohol which means we celebrate and commiserate with a drink. It’s your birthday? Have a drink! You’ve lost your job? You’ll need a drink.
Last week the Supreme Court ruled in favour of the Scottish Government legislating on minimum pricing. The seven judges all agreed that it is “a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim”.
In 2016 the number of alcohol related deaths in Scottish people aged 45-59 was 503, 12 more than in 2015 and the fourth consecutive increase. In 2015 Scotland had a 54% higher rate of alcohol deaths than our neighbours in England and Wales. In the same year 22 people died every week from alcohol related causes.
Minimum pricing was passed unopposed in the Scottish Parliament more than four years ago. First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has welcomed the decision and said: “This has been a long road – and no doubt the policy will continue to have its critics – but it is a bold and necessary move to improve public health.”
It is said that minimum unit pricing could lead to 121 fewer deaths due to alcohol misuse every year over the course of the next 20 years. Minimum unit pricing is illustrative of Scotland’s historic battle with the bottle. We need to consider what role schools can play in educating young people about alcohol. We need to talk openly and honestly about how too much drink can wreck lives and ruin families. We also need to support those young people who grow up in households surrounded by adults who don’t themselves know how to control their drinking.
I was delighted to welcome the Deputy First Minister, John Swinney, to Glenrothes High School last Friday. He spoke about adverse childhood experiences and linked poor speech and language development with work to close the poverty related attainment gap.
Scotland has a problem with drink. Scotland has a problem with children being disadvantaged in school because of their home environment. There is a link. I know that Mr Swinney is absolutely committed to closing the attainment gap, but we should remember that our schools are not magic factories. Children’s experience outwith the classroom and before they even reach school can pre-determine where they end up later in life. Minimum unit pricing isn’t just about our present; it’s about the future of the next generation. We owe it to them to get it right for every child’.