Solution must strike a balance

Oct 16 2007 Liverpool Daily Post

YET more evidence of the shocking extent of Liverpool’s binge-drinking culture is laid bare today, with new figures showing drinking habits are causing more emergency hospital admis- ions than anywhere else in the country.

They also point to a sharp North-South divide, with nine of the 10 areas with the highest number of alcohol-related emergency admissions in the north of England, while those with the lowest are mainly concentrated in the South.

The figures were compiled by the North West Public Health Observatory at Liverpool John Moores University, which created "alcohol profiles" for each local authority in England and measured death rates, hospital admissions and the amount of people drinking above sensible levels.

In the latter category, Liverpool had the second highest rate for "harmful" rates of drinking in the country, while more than 8% of Liverpool’s population are drinking at levels that will lead to them significantly harming their phys- ical and mental health and that of others.

Such levels of alcohol abuse not only have severe consequences for the individual, but on the NHS which has to deal with the increasing levels of alcohol- related ill-health.

However, while there is no shortage of experts diagnosing the problem – even to the extent of stating the obvious – solutions are much harder to come by. Those that have been put forward range from significant increases in the cost of drinking, to reviewing the way drink is promoted and its availability.

Any proposed solution needs to recognise that alcohol is a fact of life and the vast majority of people are still able to enjoy it responsibly.

Attempts to impose draconian meas- ures which restrict its sale run the risk of penalising those same people, because of the actions of those who, knowingly or unknowingly, are injuring their health and placing a huge burden on the NHS.

Trying to balance the rights of those who want to drink sensibly and the needs of those who either cannot or will not mean that any solution which satisfies both will be difficult to achieve.