As a big fan of good beer and pub culture I’m naturally nervous about anything threatening these already struggling institutions. But on the other hand we have to admit binge drinking is a real problem. 

With January’s Dryathlon ending in a series of ‘Thank God that’s over’ binges and the recent Necknominations craze, alcohol is clearly being abused. But is minimum pricing the best way to get through to the few idiots who don’t know when to stop?

Let’s start with the problem itself. Binge drinking takes place all over the world. Even France, which once enjoyed a reputation as culturally responsible drinkers, now admit to having a binging problem. They’ve even come up with their own name for it – beuverie express. This is probably a good thing since the colloquial term, le binge drinking, is just a bit too English and I’m sure it’s not completely our fault.

Ireland is one of the most popular places to go overboard with a whopping 38% of the drinking population admitting to binging on a weekly basis. Not to be outdone, we Brits are apparently some of the biggest drinkers out there, with one study suggesting on average 54% of the population are binge drinkers but don’t even know it.

So naturally we’ve come to the issue of minimum pricing per unit – the government’s failsafe plan. There seems to be equal support and opposition to this tactic, but personally I’d like to see the government explore other options.
Canada has had minimum pricing measures in place for decades and can convincingly boast an improved quality of life. Professor Tim Stockwell from the University of Victoria claims a 10% increase in alcohol prices has led to a 16% decrease in alcohol-related deaths.

Encouraging stuff. But I still think there must be other methods. Take Scotland for example. We’ve all heard about their struggle with the minimum pricing law and the backlash of the Scotch Whisky Society. But what is less reported is Scotland already had very effective measures in place to reduce excessive drinking before this bill was written. These included ad campaigns and information packs to change people’s attitudes. And it worked. In the ten years following a peak in 2003, Scotland’s alcohol-related deaths fell by 25%.

How will minimum pricing affect responsible drinkers? The ones who just like the occasional cold beer or glass of wine. It’s hardly fair to make them cough up more money because others don’t know when to stop. Will it drive more and more people away from their local and cause another downward spiral in the pub culture?

The government insists minimum pricing will hardly affect the responsible drinker and will target the lower-priced products favoured by bingers. But a study in Canada covering all sorts of drinks found a 10% increase in price led to a 16.1% decrease in sales. That’s not good news for landlords.

The unbelievably irresponsible Necknominations just go to show that we’re a long way from solving the drink problem. If you don’t know what this is, let me explain. Necknomination is an online drinking game, which is why it has spread so far so quickly. A person films themselves knocking back a drink in one go and nominates their friends to do the same on camera. We’re not talking about a glass of wine or a half or even a pint of beer here. A fifth Necknomination death in the UK has been attributed to a young man drinking a concoction that included two pints of gin! Peer pressure is fuelling the problem. Instead of being a bit of harmless fun, it’s costing lives.

Fortunately, there are a few sensible voices trying to put Necknominations to good use. South African Brent Lindeque used the opportunity to nominate people to help fight poverty in the country. Let’s hope we see common sense prevail and some good come out of this senseless craze. If not, why not just invite everyone to a group jump off Beachy Head… but I somehow doubt that would be quite as popular.

Clearly the minimum pricing debate isn’t over. But wouldn’t it be nice if we, as responsible adults, set an example for the younger generations? One which celebrated casual drinking and condemned overindulgence?