THE cost of booze has risen again in Scotland but an Inverclyde councillor has claimed the minimum unit pricing policy will not drive down the number of alcohol-related deaths locally.
Scottish Labour councillor Francesca Brennan instead called for a 'specific and targeted response' to alcohol misuse.
She spoke to the Telegraph yesterday as the minimum price per unit of alcohol rose from 50p to 65p.
The increase across Scotland is being rolled out against a backdrop of Inverclyde recording the highest alcohol death rate in the country, with 33 people losing their lives to alcohol in 2023.
Councillor Brennan, who is chair of Inverclyde Council's social work and social care scrutiny panel and a member of Inverclyde's Alcohol and Drugs Partnership, said drinkers who suffer the worst will not change their behaviours due to minimum unit pricing (MUP).
She said: "With or without minimum unit pricing, alcohol-related deaths are not going down here in Inverclyde.
"We hear time and time again from expert studies that areas with higher levels of disadvantage and deprivation will be more adversely impacted by alcohol misuse.
"We already know that here in Inverclyde, so to really tackle the root causes of alcohol misuse in our community, we need the government to listen to us and work with us to provide a public health response backed up by jobs, investment and ultimately economic hope for the future.
"We see first-hand the need for a specific and targeted response to alcohol misuse and our HSCP staff, third sector organisations and members of the Alcohol and Drugs Partnership are trying to provide this as best we can.
"Regardless of the rights and wrongs of the policy, drinkers who suffer the worst effects of alcoholism are not changing their behaviours because of MUP."
Councillor Brennan has called on the Scottish Government to come up with 'meaningful solutions to a problem that permeates the lives of so many vulnerable people in our community'.
She added: "The Scottish Government seems content with targeting people who drink alcohol responsibly on a low income as well as people suffering from alcohol addictions so severe that they will continue to source alcohol no matter the cost but continues to drag its feet over plans to restrict the marketing of alcohol products.
"There is a very specific public health emergency when it comes to alcohol in Scotland and MUP is far from a silver bullet.
"There is certainly some evidence to show that MUP has value in tackling alcohol-related challenges but it must be a building block of a wider response."
Stuart McMillan MSP told the Telegraph that the introduction of minimum unit pricing in 2018 has helped to reduce alcohol-related harm.
The SNP MSP said: "We knew this single policy was not going to be a silver bullet but would be a significant step forward in reducing alcohol related harm.
"The evidence strongly suggests that this has happened.
"Public Health Scotland undertook research into the effectiveness of minimum unit pricing and the report concluded that it has had a 'positive impact on health outcomes, namely a reduction in alcohol-attributable deaths and hospital admissions, particularly in men and those living in the most deprived areas, and therefore contributes to addressing alcohol-related health inequalities'."
Mr McMillan said the recent spike in alcohol-related deaths could be attributed to the coronavirus pandemic and its aftermath, and acknowledged Inverclyde has a 'real issue' with alcohol misuse.
He added: "I appreciate many people will not welcome this increase, but with Inverclyde seeing the most alcohol related deaths in the UK, we need to be led by the evidence and the evidence is clear - we should continue with MUP."
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