Alcohol Concern: Higher taxes could be beneficial

Putting higher taxes on alcohol could help to reduce alcohol-related deaths, according to Alcohol Concern.

The agency's comment comes in support of a report from the British Medical Association (BMA), which offered a number of proposals to reduce alcohol misuse in Britain and accused the government's initiatives of being ineffective.

Commenting, Alcohol Concern director of policy and services Don Shenker said: "Ministers and civil servants are no doubt committed to bringing down alcohol-related harms, but it can sometimes seem from the outside that they're ducking the big choices.

"The fact of the matter is price is a crucial determinant of how much we drink. Moderate, well targeted tax rises could, by some estimates reduce alcohol-related deaths by 37 per cent, with younger and heavy drinkers particularly affected."

He added: "We also welcome the BMA's call for more treatment funding and a national standardised screening and brief interventions programme in all healthcare settings.

"GPs have a vital role to play in identifying signs of problem drinking as early as possible with their patients so that it can be dealt with before it leads to more serious health problems."