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Scotland Is Fighting to Make Booze More Expensive to Solve Its Drinking Problem

Scotland's alcohol-pricing law violates European Union commerce rules, but the European Court of Justice let the possibility of a minimum price stand so long as Scottish courts first determine whether raising taxes on alcohol is just as effective.
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Scotland's government is squaring off against distillers and others it accuses of flooding the country with cheap booze that has caused spikes in liver disease, cirrhosis, crime, and workdays lost to hangovers.

At the center of the battle is a Scottish law that aims to make cut-rate liquor more expensive so that it's not so easy for tipplers to overindulge.

"The ones that are really causing harm are your cheap ciders and vodkas," said Eric Carlin, director of the Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems, an association of medical professions that supports the law. "This is just bumping up the floor price."

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But on Wednesday, the European Court of Justice ruled that Scottish courts will need to determine whether the controversial law is justified. Adopted in 2012 but delayed due to court challenges, the law imposes a minimum 50-pence price per unit of alcohol — around 10 milliliters. By American measures, that's roughly 74 cents per two teaspoons. Under the law, a cheap bottle of whiskey would sell at a minimum of about $21.

Because the law could distort market competition, the European Court said that the Scottish law violates European Union commerce rules, but it let the possibility of a minimum price stand so long as Scottish courts first determine whether simply raising taxes on booze would achieve the same public health goals of cutting down on drinking.

"The court of justice considers that the effect of the Scottish legislation is significantly to restrict the market, and this might be avoided by the introduction of a tax measure designed to increase the price of alcohol instead of a measure imposing a minimum price per unit of alcohol," the court said.

Those in the spirits industry cheered.

"This ruling opens the way to moving the debate on and allowing us to address alcohol misuse with practical measures that actually work," said a statement by David Frost, chief executive of the Scotch Whisky Association, which brought the case against the minimum price rule to the European Court.

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But Carlin and other advocates believe pricier liquor is still the best way to curb drunkenness.

The appearance of supermarkets in Scotland in the 1980s allowed retailers to dramatically lower prices for alcohol, Carlin said. The shift has changed how Scots drink.

"It's a classic example of big business seeing an opportunity and taking advantage," he remarked. "Now what they are doing is battling us furiously."

Whereas Scots for generations drank in pubs with limited hours, the supermarkets shifted drinking habits so that many folks began knocking a few back at their residences, according to a Scottish government report. In 1980, they drank less than a quarter of the liquor they purchased at home. The report claims that today half of the liquor Scots purchase is now consumed at home.

The result, the government asserts, is too much boozing.

"It is becoming increasingly evident that as a nation our relationship with alcohol has become unbalanced," says a government health services website.

Alcohol consumption in Scotland has increased by 5 percent since 1994, according to government data. That doesn't seem like much, but it has actually increased by 19 percent since 1980. Hospital admittances for alcohol-related illnesses have quadrupled since the 1980s. Today, 45 percent of Scottish convicts were drunk when they committed their crimes. Excessive drinking costs Scots around $5.35 billion a year in health, police, and other costs. That's about $1,340 per Scot.

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Frost pointed out that alcohol-related deaths have fallen by a third over the last decade in Scotland, which he said proves that teetotalers are exaggerating the social and health problems stemming from drinking.

But advocates note that health programs targeting heavy drinkers were likely the reason for the downturn in fatalities. They counter that alcohol-related deaths in Scotland have actually increased by 140 percent since 1981.

Children are also drinking more.

"I have young people who at the age of 14 tell me they won't drink alcopops" — flavored alcoholic drinks like wine coolers or malt beverages — "because alcopops are for kids," said Carlin.

Everyone in Scotland knows someone whose family has been ravaged by alcohol, he added. The 2012 law was broadly approved by the Scottish parliament, and the country's top civil court denied the Scotch Whisky Association's first challenge of the law, prompting the European Court's review. Carlin anticipates that local courts will also support the law and restore balance to Scottish drinking.

"We drink about 50 percent more than the English," he said. "We haven't always done that, though."

Follow John Dyer on Twitter: @johnjdyerjr Photo via Flickr