Scotland's alcohol abuse costs GBP 2.25bn a year

Alcohol abuse is costing Scotland more than £2.25 billion a year – double the previous estimate – The Scotsman can reveal. But that massive figure is still considered to be a substantial underestimate of the true cost to the health service, justice system and economy.
Liver cirrhosis deaths have soared in Scotland over the past 30 years, while falling across Europe, prompting calls for urgent action to tackle the alcohol epidemic. Radical measures being considered include upping the age limit for buying alcohol to 21 and raising taxes on drinks with high alcohol content.

Tighter restrictions on the sale of alcohol and limits on advertising have helped to cut liver deaths in other nations, and the SNP has decided to make tackling alcohol misuse a top priority for its second year in office, in the belief that drink is stopping the country fulfilling its true potential.

Campaigners agree action is now needed to tackle Scotland's poor relationship with alcohol, with mounting evidence of its negative impact on the country.

Figures studied by the Scottish Government show deaths from cirrhosis of the liver, caused by alcohol abuse, have seen the fastest growth in Europe.

By 2000 – the latest available figures – there were 70 such deaths per 100,000 men aged 45-64 in Scotland, compared with fewer than 30 in 1980.

In other European countries outside the UK, deaths dropped from about 50 per 100,000 in 1980 to about 30 in 2000. Indications suggest this trend is continuing, but with the rate of deaths still going up in Scotland.

Despite those shocking statistics, putting a figure on the overall cost of alcohol problems has proved problematic.

In 2002-3, it was estimated alcohol misuse was costing Scotland £1.125 billion a year. The latest figure, calculated by the health analytical services division of the Scottish Government, concluded the cost was £2.25 billion, equivalent to £6.2 million a day, although the true cost is certain to be even higher.

Shona Robison, Holyrood's public health minister, said the new figure highlighted the scale of the problem facing Scotland.

"The fact this revised analysis has given us an estimate that is double the previous estimate at £2.25 billion confirms our view that alcohol misuse in Scotland is holding us back as a nation," said Ms Robison.

"It's costing us a lot of money in public services, and clearly it is costing the economy a lot of lost opportunity.

"Only when people accept the scale of the problem will they accept the government needs to respond with action proportionate to the scale of the problem."

The biggest costs of alcohol misuse were found to be economic, with business hit hard by hungover employees affecting productivity. The total cost to the economy, including absence from work and unemployment, was estimated at £820 million. The NHS was also badly hit, with the effects of alcohol-related ill-health on hospitals, GPs and the ambulance service totalling at least £405 million. The costs to social services and the criminal justice system added a further £555 million.

But one of the most worrying costs – and the most difficult to calculate – was the human and social one. Suffering caused by crime, loss of life and other social damage was put at £470 million.

Ms Robison accepted that tackling a culture of alcohol-misuse in Scotland would not be easy. "We can change it by focusing on the fact that this is not about being anti-alcohol. This is anti-alcohol-misuse, and about getting people to understand the cost of that misuse, and that people can enjoy the product without abusing it," she said.

"We want to get to that stage, in the same way that other European countries do. They enjoy alcohol products without abusing them the way we do in Scotland.

"I do think that in the conversations I hear, there's beginning to be a realisation that this is holding us back, as individuals, as families, as a society. Wouldn't it be good to have £2.25 billion invested elsewhere? And that is before the potential is released.

"I am optimistic we can take the Scottish public with us. It's not going to happen overnight – cultural change never does. But I am confident we can get to a better place where we can enjoy alcohol without abusing it."

The Scottish Government is set to publish its long-term strategy on alcohol this summer.

Action that could be taken includes increasing the age at which people can buy alcohol from 18 to 21, as in the United States. It is also likely there will be measures to crack down on discounts in supermarkets, such as imposing minimum prices.

Jack Law, the chief executive of Alcohol Focus Scotland, said the country was just starting to wake up to its alcohol-related problems. "I think there's a broad recognition that in Scotland the way in which we consume alcohol is problematic," he said.

He said alcohol was everywhere – a supermarket loss-leader, sponsor of sports events and linked to TV programmes. "People tend, then, to see alcohol as nothing more than another kind of drink, like tea. But it's a licensed product," he said.

Evelyn Gillan, project director of Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems, also said the price had to be addressed, and £5 pocket money could now allow a teenager to buy enough alcohol to kill themselves.

"We have called for minimum pricing," Dr Gillan said. "There's an unquestionable link between price, consumption and harm."

She said the reasons for higher rates of liver deaths in Scotland were complex. "France took a big decision some years ago to tackle their own rising rates of liver disease. They completely banned advertising of alcohol and put controls on when and where it was available. This action has clearly worked," she said.

Paul Waterson, of the Scottish Licensed Trade Association, said: "We need to cut out the alcohol being sold in supermarkets below cost."

David Sinclair, of Victim Support Scotland, said alcohol misuse had to be tackled in light of the large amount of crime committed under the influence.

Scotsman