Urgent action needed to tackle alcohol emergency, ministers warned

The Scottish Government has been told it must take urgent action to tackle Scotland’s “alcohol emergency”.

In a letter to the Health Secretary, Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems (SHAAP) and Alcohol Focus Scotland accused the Government of lacking ambition in its plans to cut the number of deaths caused by alcohol.

Audit Scotland’s 2024 report on alcohol and drug services recommended that by mid-2025, the Scottish Government must “work with key stakeholders to identify and agree actions to increase focus and funding for tackling alcohol-related harm, while continuing to tackle drug-related harm”.

The letter from the two organisations calls for Neil Gray to set out how he will achieve this goal.

The Scottish Government declared alcohol harm to be a public health emergency in 2021.

However, the Health Secretary has been told while some action has been taken since then – such as the uprating of minimum unit pricing in September – there “has not been the ambition nor urgency required to address the scale of the problem”.

Dr Alastair MacGilchrist, chairman of SHAAP, said: “Scotland continues to face an unacceptable level of alcohol-related harm, with 1,277 people losing their lives to alcohol in 2023.

“This requires an emergency response, but so far we haven’t seen one from the Scottish Government.

“For too long the drugs deaths crisis has overshadowed alcohol. The dual problems of alcohol and drug harm are equally important, but they need to be tackled differently.

“Treatment for alcohol problems often differs from treatment for drug problems so relying on National Mission on Drugs Deaths money to improve services for alcohol problems is not going to work.

“We need a dedicated alcohol strategy which sets out a package of measures designed to tackle the price, marketing and availability of alcohol.

“This should be matched by increased investment in treatment services and recovery organisations.”

Laura Mahon, deputy chief executive of Alcohol Focus Scotland, said: “We welcome the extra investment in alcohol and other drugs announced following the Budget deal struck by the Scottish Government, Liberal Democrats and Greens.

“However, it remains unclear to what extent this will enable the increase in focus on alcohol harm recently identified as needed by the Auditor General.”

Ms Mahon said alcohol presents a “uniquely different challenge” from other drugs, with around a million Scots drinking at levels which may be harmful to their health and risks increasing their risk of dying from alcoholic liver disease or alcohol-related cancers.

She added: “It is crucial to recognise that a large proportion of alcohol-specific deaths are not in dependent drinkers – but come as a consequence of a lifetime of heavy alcohol use.

“The Scottish Government needs to be clear on how it will address the issues identified by the Auditor General, ensure specified investment in alcohol harm prevention and alcohol treatment, as well as working with stakeholders to bring forward a comprehensive and credible plan for how they will achieve this.”

The Health Secretary said: “We remain committed to reducing alcohol-related harm and five months ago increased our world-leading minimum unit price for alcohol.

“Public Health Scotland has been commissioned to review the evidence for the range of options that are available to the Scottish Government under devolved powers to address alcohol marketing.

“This will ensure our work is evidence-based and delivers clear public health outcomes.

“We have made a record £112 million available to Alcohol and Drug Partnerships for a wide range of measures – including alcohol treatment services.

“We recognise the equal importance of the related but distinct challenges presented by alcohol and drugs use.”