Alcohol abuse: 'There is no short-term fix for the problem'

THE SNP is right to be concerned over the levels of alcohol abuse in Scotland. It is not surprising that it has identified curtailing binge drinking as its number one health priority.

And if the legacy of the last government in terms of improving the nation's health was to ban smoking in public places, the new government could cement its place in history were it able to even arrest the growth in the country's booze culture, as for the moment eradicating it seems just too much to ask.

Without doubt one of the biggest problems it faces is that children are falling prey to alcohol at a younger age than ever. Today the Evening News reveals that every month one child under the age of 12 is detained overnight in hospital in the Lothians to be treated for the effects of excess alcohol consumption.

These are not children who have gone through the age old ritual of having a few sips from their parents' hidden drinks stash. They have gone far beyond this and in some cases have arrived at A&E units unconscious.

The worrying thing is that among younger people this kind of behaviour is becoming more socially acceptable and those who drink to excess are more likely to be held in high regard by their peers rather than shunned.

Licensees cannot be held responsible for them getting their hands on drink as, although some are not as diligent as they should be in checking the ages of teenagers attempting to buy alcohol, there must be few that would even contemplate selling drink to someone clearly as young. In most cases it will be older youngsters who obtain drink and irresponsibly pass it on.

One of the problems the SNP will face, regardless of how it chooses to go about attempting to limit alcohol consumption, is that it will have to focus its messages and any legislation at an extremely diverse audience from children of primary school age to pensioners.

Many adults must be practically considered a lost cause. They have developed an addiction to alcohol in the same way long-term smokers have to nicotine and the habit is hard to break.

And it is perhaps a sad fact of life that as our dependency on alcohol has become greater whole generations are passing bad habits on.

Many youngsters who have begun experimenting with drink today will have done so because their parents and elders have by example made it seem socially acceptable to drink to excess. Any targets that the SNP, or any successive government, will make will have to be long term. There is no short-term fix for curbing the problem. But it is clear from today's evidence the best place for them to start educating people about the dangers is classrooms in our primary schools.