WIREDGOV

This message was delivered at an Alcohol Summit to discuss the scale of Scotland's alcohol problem and possible solutions by Dr Peter Anderson, a consultant to the World Health Organisation.

The forum, held today at the Radisson Hotel on Edinburgh's Royal Mile, brought together around 100 representatives from across the political spectrum, NHS, universities, alcohol producers and retailers, interest groups and government.

Dr Anderson, who also advises the European Commission, told delegates:

"Outside of governments which own retail stores for the sale of alcohol, no jurisdiction has set a minimum price of alcohol.

"Internationally, Scotland is seen as a public health leader. You had the courage to introduce smoke free pubs; let us hope that you have the same courage to introduce a minimum price for alcohol."

Other key speakers included Dr Harry Burns, Scotland's Chief Medical Officer; Dr Peter Rice, a consultant psychiatrist and head of NHS Tayside's Alcohol Service and Paul Waterson, Chief Executive of the Scottish Licensed Trade Association.

Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon said:

"This Government believes the time has come for radical action to cut the 2.25 billion pound cost of alcohol misuse to Scotland.

"But we're under no illusions that we have to take people with us and that includes the whole political spectrum, the alcohol industry and retailers.

"This issue is bigger than politics and we owe it to the people of Scotland to tackle the scourge of alcohol misuse"

"Today's summit was an opportunity to sit down with others who share our determination, so that we can work towards a consensus."

Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill said:

"We know that alcohol misuse is damaging Scotland. It's fuelling violence, damaging our health and hurting our economy.

"The fact that you can buy a bottle of high strength cider for less than a bottle of water shows that it's time for action to be taken,

"As a Government we've made a number of bold proposals and our Alcohol Summit has give interested parties the opportunity to find out more about them."

"The health profession is seeing the fallout of alcohol misuse every year in hundreds of thousands of GP consultations, thousands of hospital admissions and increased rates of chronic illness and deaths.

"This is a problem that cuts across gender, age and socio-economic group and is growing in every part of Scotland.

"It's clear that the high alcohol consumption we're now seeing across society has very serious consequences for our health as a nation. We have to look at the evidence of what works in order to get to grips with it."

The Scottish Government's Alcohol Framework was published on March 2, 2009 following a consultation period last year.

• introducing a minimum price for a unit of alcohol
• a ban on off-sales promotions
• placing a duty on licensing boards to consider whether raising the off-sales purchase age to 21 is appropriate for their area
• a Social Responsibility Fee for some retailers

The proposals will be included in a forthcoming Bill to be introduced to the Scottish Parliament later this year.

Facts about alcohol misuse in Scotland:

• In 2007-08 in Scotland, there were 42,430 alcohol related discharges from hospitals - a rise of 20 per cent in five years
• Of these, there were 6,817 discharges for alcoholic liver disease and 4,646 discharges for alcohol poisoning
• In Scotland in 2006-07, there were an estimated 111,200 consultations with GPs and practice nurses for alcohol misuse
• In 2007, 50 million litres of pure alcohol was sold in Scotland. This would give a per capita figure of 11.8 litres for everyone over 16, equivalent to nearly 500 pints of strong lager, 42 bottles of vodka or 125 bottles of wine - and enough for every single adult to exceed the sensible drinking guidelines for men of 21 units every week of the year
• Almost half (49 per cent) of all Scottish prisoners in 2008 said they were drunk at the time of the offence, with the figure rising to 76 per cent for young offenders
• Scotland has one of the fastest growing rates of liver cirrhosis in the world, which has doubled since 1990 and is now twice that of England and Wales