Six in ten Scottish adults ‘have worried about their own or someone else’s drinking’, according to a poll by Alcohol Focus Scotland.
Although the most recent figures from National Records of Scotland, published last month, showed a slight decrease in the number of alcohol-specific deaths, Scotland and Northern Ireland continue to have the highest alcohol-specific death rates in the UK. Despite this, 33 per cent of the poll respondents said they would not feel confident that they – or someone close to them – could access the right support to cut down or stop drinking. That figure was higher among those who had been worried about someone’s drinking, at 37 per cent.
‘More than a million people in Scotland drink at levels that harm their health, and recent statistics showed that deaths from alcohol are almost double what they were in the nineties,’ Alcohol Focus Scotland stated. ‘These shocking figures highlight the need for action.’
Scotland’s most recent drug-related death figures showed an 11 per cent increase on the previous year – with the figure now four times higher than in 2000 – and a report from Audit Scotland warned that the country’s ongoing drugs death crisis had led to the government shifting its attention away from alcohol harm. The Scottish Government published its new ten-year drug and alcohol plan earlier this year, with one key priority to expand treatment standards to include alcohol.
‘These new figures show most of us are worried about our own or someone else’s drinking – and that’s no surprise, since fifty people die from alcohol in Scotland every week,’ said Alcohol Focus Scotland’s chief executive, Carolyn Lochhead. ‘But asking for help can be tough, and support isn’t always easily available. That’s why we’re marking the first Alcohol Action Day in Scotland by launching a petition urging the Scottish Government to make alcohol support services fit for purpose, properly resourced and accessible to everyone.’