IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/sagope/v6y2016i3p2158244016657141.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Heavy Drinkers’ Perspectives on Minimum Unit Pricing for Alcohol in Scotland

Author

Listed:
  • Fiona O’May
  • Jan Gill
  • Heather Black
  • Cheryl Rees
  • Jonathan Chick
  • Barbara McPake

Abstract

The irrefutable consequence of Scottish excessive alcohol consumption has prompted implementation and proposal of alcohol policy measures. The purpose of this study is to explore with heavy drinkers their awareness of and identify potential implications of policy introducing alcohol minimum unit pricing (MUP). Face-to-face semi-structured interviews were conducted with drinkers with alcohol-related harm ( n = 20; 15 males, five females; aged 34 to 67 years old) in Scotland’s two largest cities (drinkers were participants within a larger quantitative study, through attendance for treatment for alcohol-related harms at National Health Service [NHS] centers). Median weekly consumption among participants was 130.7 units (range: 28-256.3 U.K. units). Views regarding the impact of increased alcohol prices, through MUP, were mixed. While some drinkers indicated potential reduction in intake, thus possibly reducing alcohol harms in the long term, the expected, or even desired, from a public health perspective, effects on consumption and associated harms might not be fully realized in this group. To mitigate possible unintended short-term detrimental effects of MUP on the most vulnerable, careful planning and appropriate resourcing may be required prior to implementation.

Suggested Citation

  • Fiona O’May & Jan Gill & Heather Black & Cheryl Rees & Jonathan Chick & Barbara McPake, 2016. "Heavy Drinkers’ Perspectives on Minimum Unit Pricing for Alcohol in Scotland," SAGE Open, , vol. 6(3), pages 21582440166, July.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:sagope:v:6:y:2016:i:3:p:2158244016657141
    DOI: 10.1177/2158244016657141
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2158244016657141
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/2158244016657141?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Wagenaar, A.C. & Tobler, A.L. & Komro, K.A., 2010. "Effects of alcohol tax and price policies on morbidity and mortality: A systematic review," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 100(11), pages 2270-2278.
    2. Srinivasa Vittal Katikireddi & Shona Hilton & Chris Bonell & Lyndal Bond, 2014. "Understanding the Development of Minimum Unit Pricing of Alcohol in Scotland: A Qualitative Study of the Policy Process," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(3), pages 1-10, March.
    3. Hilton, Shona & Wood, Karen & Patterson, Chris & Katikireddi, Srinivasa Vittal, 2014. "Implications for alcohol minimum unit pricing advocacy: What can we learn for public health from UK newsprint coverage of key claim-makers in the policy debate?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 157-164.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jon P. Nelson, 2014. "Gender Differences In Alcohol Demand: A Systematic Review Of The Role Of Prices And Taxes," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 23(10), pages 1260-1280, October.
    2. Barrie M. Craven & Michael L. Marlow & Alden F. Shiers, 2013. "The Economics of Minimum Pricing for Alcohol," Economic Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(2), pages 174-189, June.
    3. Anne Ludbrook & John Holmes & Tim Stockwell, 2014. "Gender Differences In Alcohol Demand: A Systematic Review Of The Role Of Prices And Taxes. Comment On Conclusions By Nelson," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 23(10), pages 1281-1283, October.
    4. Molly Thomas-Meyer & Oliver Mytton & Jean Adams, 2017. "Public responses to proposals for a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages: A thematic analysis of online reader comments posted on major UK news websites," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(11), pages 1-18, November.
    5. MacLean, Sarah & Room, Robin & Cook, Megan & Mugavin, Janette & Callinan, Sarah, 2022. "Affordances of home drinking in accounts from light and heavy drinkers," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 296(C).
    6. Yu, Jiazhou & Dong, Dong & Sumerlin, Timothy S. & Kim, Jean H., 2023. "Feasibility of introducing effective alcohol harms reduction strategies in a low regulation region: A qualitative study from Hong Kong," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    7. Nino Berdzuli & Carina Ferreira-Borges & Antoni Gual & Jürgen Rehm, 2020. "Alcohol Control Policy in Europe: Overview and Exemplary Countries," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(21), pages 1-14, November.
    8. Kabir Dasgupta, 2019. "Youth response to state cyberbullying laws," New Zealand Economic Papers, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(2), pages 184-202, May.
    9. Anurag Sharma & Fabrice Etilé & Kompal Sinha, 2016. "The Effect of Introducing a Minimum Price on the Distribution of Alcohol Purchase: A Counterfactual Analysis," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 25(9), pages 1182-1200, September.
    10. Marco Francesconi & Jonathan James, 2022. "Alcohol Price Floors and Externalities: The Case of Fatal Road Crashes," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 41(4), pages 1118-1156, September.
    11. William Gilmore & Tanya Chikritzhs & Hamish McManus & John Kaldor & Rebecca Guy, 2020. "The Association between the Australian Alcopops Tax and National Chlamydia Rates among Young People—an Interrupted Time Series Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(4), pages 1-18, February.
    12. Wolf, Achim & Gray, Ron & Fazel, Seena, 2014. "Violence as a public health problem: An ecological study of 169 countries," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 220-227.
    13. Srinivasa Vittal Katikireddi & Shona Hilton & Chris Bonell & Lyndal Bond, 2014. "Understanding the Development of Minimum Unit Pricing of Alcohol in Scotland: A Qualitative Study of the Policy Process," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(3), pages 1-10, March.
    14. Venuleo, Claudia & Calogiuri, Sara & Rollo, Simone, 2015. "Unplanned reaction or something else? The role of subjective cultures in hazardous and harmful drinking," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 9-17.
    15. Freeman, Donald G., 2012. "Is Beer Safer than Spirits? How the Change in Consumption Shares of Alcoholic Beverage Types Affects Traffic Mortality in Young People," Journal of International Agricultural Trade and Development, Journal of International Agricultural Trade and Development, vol. 61(4).
    16. Hawkins, Benjamin & Durrance-Bagale, Anna & Walls, Helen, 2021. "Co-regulation and alcohol industry political strategy: A case study of the Public Health England-Drinkaware Drink Free Days Campaign," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 285(C).
    17. Chen-Mao Liao & Chih-Ming Lin, 2017. "The Effects of the Global Economic Recession and a Reduced Alcohol Tax on Hospitalizations Due to Alcohol-Attributed Diseases in Taiwan," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-12, May.
    18. Saffer, Henry & Gehrsitz, Markus, 2016. "The effect of post-and-hold laws on alcohol consumption," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 63-71.
    19. Eastmure, Elizabeth & Cummins, Steven & Sparks, Leigh, 2020. "Non-market strategy as a framework for exploring commercial involvement in health policy: A primer," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 262(C).
    20. Bryden, Anna & Petticrew, Mark & Mays, Nicholas & Eastmure, Elizabeth & Knai, Cecile, 2013. "Voluntary agreements between government and business—A scoping review of the literature with specific reference to the Public Health Responsibility Deal," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 110(2), pages 186-197.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:sagope:v:6:y:2016:i:3:p:2158244016657141. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.