Thought for the Week: Minimum pricing of alcohol

Helena Chambers and Tim James discuss health and the cost of alcohol.

by Helena Chambers and Tim James 24th February 2012

For the first time, minimum pricing per unit of alcohol is being seriously considered in Westminster (Scotland is already in the process of pursuing it). If it were adopted at 50p, over four hundred lives would be saved in the first year. By the tenth year, this would rise to over 3,300 lives every year [Department of Health] – not to mention a reduction in the human suffering involved in less acute alcohol problems.