Scotland Introduces Law for Minimum Pricing of Alcohol

The recent St. Patrick’s Day publicity, most of which seemed to involve drinking, put me in the frame of mind to notice this development from the home of St. Andrew, where the Scottish government has introduced a bill that would fix mandatory minimum prices for alcohol. The Scottish National Party’s first attempt in the prior parliament was defeated. However, SP Bill 4^* has this time received approval in principle and will proceed on through the legislative process.

There is a basis for concern about the consumption of alcohol in Scotland. The government has set out the argument in favour of various measures, among them minimum pricing, to restrict drinking, which has increased on a per capita basis quite considerably over the recent decades. OECD data on alcohol consumption for 2009 show the United Kingdom consuming 10.2 litres (of a fixed measure of alcohol) per capita; and, as the Scottish government says, “In 2010, 23% more alcohol was sold per adult in Scotland than in England & Wales.” (Ireland, as it happens, is at 11.3 litres per capita. In Canada we drink the equivalent of 8.2 litres per capita.)

Despite doubts all round about whether this measure will, if passed, have the effect hoped for, Scotland might take heart from a study published last month which, the authors say, is “the first empirical evaluation of the impact of minimum pricing as a public health measure designed to limit consumption.” Does minimum pricing reduce alcohol consumption? The experience of a Canadian province by Stockwell et al. examined the situation in British Columbia, where the government sets minimum prices for alcohol (as it does in Saskatchewan and Ontario), finding that, with some qualifications,

minimum pricing at the levels implemented over our sampling period in BC effectively reduced both beverage-specific and aggregate consumption: the estimates indicate that a 10% increase in the minimum price of a given type of beverage reduced consumption of that type by about 16.1% relative to all other beverages, and a simultaneous 10% increase in the minimum prices of all types reduced total consumption by 3.4% (P < 0.01 in both cases).

_______________________________
* It’s interesting to note the use of slightly different (to us) idioms in the introduction to the bill: “An Act of the Scottish Parliament to make provision about the price at which alcohol may be sold from licensed premises; and for connected purposes.” I suspect we would say “make provision for” or “concerning”; and “related purposes” perhaps.