Smoking's gone - now what about booze
Fresh from banning smoking in pubs it appears the Scottish Executive is now turning its sights to alcohol in its bid to boost the country's health.
Ministers have pledged to clamp down on Scotland's excessive drinking culture.
Among the tactics being talked about are advertising campaigns telling parents not to drink in front of their children and asking supermarkets to set up a special 'booze lane' at checkouts.
A series of adverts aimed at encouraging Scots to stand up and have the courage to ask for a soft drink or say no thanks to another alcoholic one are already in the pipeline.
Lewis Macdonald, Scotland's deputy health minister, said the plan would build a more mature attitude to drinking in Scotland.
He said more than £20m had been made available over two years to tackle drink-related problems and said the executive's new alcohol action plan will be available later in the year.
He added: "Scotland has a well-known culture of drinking that dates back centuries and has a massive human and financial cost to our society."
However, the paper says the Executive is cautious of legislating so soon after the smoke ban for fear of being seen as a "nanny state".
Instead, Mr Macdonald said sensible drinking would be promoted through more subtle means such as education.
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Your CommentsJim Lawler via email 06/06/2006"Here we go again,now that smoking has been banned and supported by many pub drinkers,we are now going to be bombarded with anti alcohol legislation
already happy hours gone,drinks promotions gone,health warnings printed on cans and bottles girls party nights to be curtailed,mc connal wanting steep rises on drink prices,told not to drink in front of children ,it goes on and on.
we deserve all we get,when we opened the door to the smoke banners we allowed all the p.c.and health zealots to peddle their favourite hates.like what we can eat or say or do.
scotland is already the most regulated country in europe,its time to end the nannie state.
Robert Feal-Martinez via email 06/06/2006"What is worrying is that HMG will let the SE set the agenda and then follow suit. Our social lives are almost over. The stay at home, hate everything brigade are winning. I suppose the only satisfaction will be when the 25Billion or so tax on alcohol and tobacco finally dries up the anti's will get shafted as we have."
Robert Feal-Martinez via email 07/06/2006"Further to my last, could it just be that The SE can adopt this type of social engineering because under the Barmet Formula they receive 3 times/head of population in governmental support than England does. So not only will they set the agenda the tax payer in England will be paying to get 'sgafted' later."
