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MINIMUM PRICING
WRITTEN BY DEVON TREVATHAN
T
he practice of minimum pricing began in Canada as a policy largely focused on fiscal stability. Its cardinal function was to protect the government’s revenue stream from being mangled by price cuts among retailers desperate to outsell each other. That it evolved into an instrument of public health seems almost accidental. The policy that was just greenlit by the British Supreme Court is an evolution of minimum pricing, now called minimum unit pricing, and has been branded as an effort to reduce the abundance of alcohol-related hospitalization and fatalities occurring in Scotland each year. Minimum unit pricing (MUP) hinges on the assumption that increased prices on alcoholic beverages will reduce destructive drinking more effectively than education and awareness alone. At the current cost of 18p, or $0.24, per unit, an adult needs only spend £2.52 to drink the maximum recommended weekly limit of alcohol. Researchers are recommending an increase to 50p ($0.67) per unit to reduce an estimated 120 fatalities and 2,000 hospitalizations per year. But does it actually work? WWW.ARTISANSPIRITMAG.COM
Six other countries currently practice some form of minimum pricing: Canada, some states in the USA, Russia, Moldova, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. Research from Canadian provinces have made up the bulk of available evidence in the past. Though the policy in Canada is slightly different from the proposed legislation in Scotland—a price proportionate to the actual volume of the liquid in a drink compared to the alcohol-by-volume—proponents of MUP have argued their similarities are such that effectiveness in Canada is a good indicator of success in Scotland. Perhaps the most cited source by those willing MUP into existence is Sheffield University’s Sheffield Alcohol Policy Model, which used econometric and epidemiological assessments to estimate the outcome of minimum unit pricing. Their conclusion is that MUP targets the most harmful drinkers who often exist on lower incomes, which has inspired other countries to take notice. There is already some urging of the Irish government to implement policies similar to MUP, and the Welsh government announced its Public Health Bill just three months back, which
Minimum unit pricing
hinges on the assumption that increased prices on alcoholic beverages will reduce destructive drinking more effectively than education and awareness alone. But does it actually work? strives to address health issues related to the consumption of excess alcohol. Today, 29% of women and 38% of men regularly drink above the recommended limit, and the UK National Health Service is spending upwards of 2.7 billion pounds to treat problems related to alcohol. It was because of this enormous burden on the state that Scotland decided to act. They are hopeful that minimum unit pricing will offer a solution to reverse the nation’s difficult relationship with drink. Alcohol abuse is not just a dark mark
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