The alcohol industry… claims that the country’s heaviest drinkers are wealthy…
That’s a completely new theory to me! I wonder if it works the other way? If I just get drunk every day will it make me rich?
I would be willing to guess that the figures are similar internationally
So it would appear that the 80/20 rule applies to alcohol consumption as well.
And of course, this neatly illustrates the woeful targeting and general uselessness of government health messaging on alcohol.
Seeing these figures, anyone could tell you that the sensible strategy would be to target the minority consuming staggering amounts of alcohol, and doing serious damage to themselves, but all you hear about is the endless tinkering with “safe” limits for moderate drinkers in order to classify the as “problematic”, and the neo-prohibitionist drive to get everyone to cut down.
Also, the effectiveness of minimum pricing is almost inconsequential when it may well be ruled out by EU “free trade” rules. Coming soon to a country near you, with each corporate trade treaty- don’t try to stop people killing themselves, or you’ll be sued.
That’s a bunch of cock and bull.
“Majority of UK booze-industry revenues come from from those 20% of the population who drink more than about two bottles of wine per week.”
Look at the composition of that photo, it’s outstanding, very dynamic.
I´m not a fan of price increases to fight alcoholism at all. In Scandinavian countries it doesn´t do much to prevent it and I certainly don´t want to pay out of my ass whenever I feel like having a beer or two after work.
From the first page of the government survey referenced in the article:
- 81% of men and 69% of women in the highest income quintile drank in the last week, compared with 51% of men and 39% of women in the lowest income quintile. There was a similar pattern for frequent drinking.
Alcohol, just like gambling should be banned. The main people who partake in both activities are people who don’t have the money for that junk. If you want to feel better do meditation of something, alcohol is absolutely not the way to deal with problems and will do more harm in the long run.
…because prohibition is such a successful policy…
the article claims exactly the opposite, in the UK persons with higher income drink more often
Was tried, and failed miserably.
You’d achieve nothing, only turn lots of people into yet more of criminals than what they already are. Not much change, though, just from three felonies a day to four.
You’re far too young to make such assertions, really a World without whiskey is just not worth living in, [said my liver]
As a tee-totaller it’s possible that I’m missing whatever grass-roots campaigning the industry practices, but I do live a stone’s throw from three pubs, an off-licence and two supermarkets that sell alcohol, and I never seen any evidence of an effort on the industry’s part to do more than sell more booze.
Alternatively, don’t go down the prohibition route and instead support a system that doesn’t make life so miserable that you want to drink and gamble your money away.
Great suggestion. If there´s one thing the war on drugs has shown, it´s that all it takes to prevent any kind of addiction is a ban. Once you´ve done that – poof – all of human desire for altered consciousness evaporates.
Main people? Main people are a minority. Most people are auxiliary people.
Fools. You’re supposed to limit yourself to 1.5 bottles per week.
Perhaps the heaviest drinkers only think they’re the upper crust?
Yeah, we’ve tried that once in the US and it really worked!
