Alcohol Abuse

Speech by Peter Black delivered to Plenary on Wed 9th Jul 2008

Peter Black: It is not alcohol use that concerns the Welsh Liberal Democrats but alcohol misuse. Most people who drink alcohol do so responsibly, and respect their own health and that of other people. It is not a case of cracking down on people's freedom to spend their time as they wish; it is about ensuring that everyone can do so without there being a problem.

Therefore, if we are looking at how to tackle alcohol-related problems, we must understand that it is just a small minority of people who abuse alcohol, and it is on those we need to concentrate. A number of Members have referred to the fact that young people have a particular problem with alcohol, and, as Jenny Randerson pointed out, that is mentioned in the motion. However, it is not just young people who have those problems; a culture of alcohol misuse is prevalent not just in Wales but throughout the United Kingdom. People consume alcohol as a matter of course, and consider that to be normal activity. Most people do so responsibly, but others do not, and see it as a challenge to out-drink others, which is when the problems start.

Wherever you get alcohol misuse, you also get the related problems. For example, a huge amount of domestic abuse is associated with alcohol misuse, as is a lot of violence generally in our society. Talk to any police officer and they will tell you that they would rather encounter someone who has been smoking cannabis than someone who has been drinking alcohol, because at least the person smoking cannabis will not assault them, violently resist arrest, destroy property, or cause other problems. We have to accept that, if we are to deal with the particular issues of violence and the destruction of property, we also have to start looking at attitudes towards alcohol and how we deal with it.

In many ways, alcohol is the poor relation of substance misuse. When you say the words 'substance misuse', most people think of drugs and the impact of drugs on society,which do have a pretty dreadful impact. However, more people abuse alcohol than drugs, and the impact on their lives, their health, and their families can be just as devastating as the impact of drugs. I have seen families lose a young relative because of a drink-driving incident, and I have seen the difficulty that they have had accepting that sudden death. Sometimes, it is not the person who died who was doing the drinking; people die as the result of other people's drinking. In 2006, it was estimated that 540 people were killed as the result of drink driving. That is one reason why we need to support anti drink-driving campaigns. A third of those drink drivers were young people, by the way, although it is clearly a problem that affects everyone. I remember not so long ago the intensity of Government-run campaigns against drink driving, not just at Christmas but throughout the year, often. You rarely see those sorts of advertisements nowadays. The previous concentration on drink-driving campaigns is no longer evident. I believe that, as a result of that, more people are starting to drink and drive. You cannot let up the pace of informing people of the consequences of drinking and driving and its unacceptability at any stage. You cannot just have a campaign for Christmas; it has to be a campaign for the entire year.

Reference has been made to cut-price alcohol offers. They used to be far more prevalent than they are now, but you still get them in many town and city centres, where people can go to a venue and drink as much as they want for a set price or as part of an entrance fee. That is completely irresponsible on the part of the licensee, and local authorities should be able to take the matter up under the Licensing Act 2003 and revoke an establishment's licence. As things stand, I understand that authorities have to link any alcohol-related misbehaviour or violence to a particular establishment if they are to take any action against it. It seems that they do not have the right to tell an establishment, 'Do not give these offers or we will take your licence away'. That needs to be looked at, and I hope that the Minister can make representations to the UK Government in that regard.