Alcohol minimum unit pricing is a policy that divides opinion. As part of our Scotland & Alcohol series, we asked two of our writers to put the case for and against increasing the price of drink. Here, Rebecca McQuillan argues the Scottish Government policy saves lives. While Kevin Mckenna argues the opposite

Alcohol is an intrinsic part of Scottish culture and that doesn’t look like changing. We tend to associate it with relaxation, friendship and fun.

But we all know the less talked-about side, the sickening side, the one that doesn’t feature on the beer ads. Many of us, myself included, have known friends or relatives to die because of alcohol. And we know other people whom we worry are heading that way.

These are the people for whom unsafe drinking is habitual - the friend who drinks every night, or the guy who knocks back two pints of lager in the time it takes everyone else to finish one.

Scottish Government data shows that in 2021, people in Scotland bought enough booze for everyone aged 16 or over to drink more than 18 units a week, the equivalent of two bottles of wine. That’s 36 bottles of spirits per adult, per year.

Alcohol consumption (Image: free)

Given that many people drink much less than that, a lot must routinely be drinking far more.

It's these people - the ones who drink at hazardous levels, of whom there are around a million in Scotland - that the minimum unit pricing (MUP) of alcohol policy was principally aimed at when introduced in 2018. The purpose was to save them from harm by reducing the amount they drank, while reducing the harm alcohol causes to the population as a whole. Those living in deprived communities, it was hoped, would........

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