Letter to Evening News from Michael Davidson, Freedom to Choose (Scotland)'s new chairman:
THE Scottish Government’s plan to bring in minimum pricing for alcohol will bring no benefits to society in general.
There is no empirical evidence to suggest that it will make any difference to problem drinking – those who drink to a degree where they harm themselves, their families and society will continue to do so, just as they always have.
Responsible drinkers among the poorest of society will suffer. The only beneficiaries of this government-imposed cartelism will be alcohol sellers and control-obsessed politicians.This is another prohibitionist move, following the smoking ban in pubs and other anti-tobacco measures, to wrest our autonomy from all of us.
The job of politicians is to represent people, not to manage them.
Michael Davidson, Chairman, Freedom to Choose (Scotland), Edinburgh
The
Guardian reports that minimum
pricing was opposed by Scottish Labour, but following the SNP's decision to
impose a 'health levy' on supermarkets (which will claw back the increased
margins from alcohol sold in shops) they are likely to support it. The drinks
industry believes that setting a minimum price for drink will be illegal in
European law, even though most major parties now seem to be in favour.
Times
are bad when European law seems the best hope we have of stopping this policy.
