Why do we drink so much?

The Scottish government has recently proposed to set a minimum price for a unit of alcohol. This new approach is being described as a means of reducing alcohol consumption especially with 'problem drinkers'.

But while this makes alcohol more expensive it is unlikely to be a successful method of reducing consumption. Those people who drink to excess will continue to do so because what the politicians have failed to recognise is that for many people, alcohol is a form of self medication. Drinking is a way to deal with pressures in an individual's life. You can blot out just about everything with enough booze. Of course it doesn't fix the problems, but if the problem is so difficult to deal with that it seems impossible to change, then escapism can seem like a useful way out.

So if the politicians in Scotland really want to deal with drug use, (and alcohol is just another drug after all) it is the social conditions that must change. Attempting to deal with the alcohol misuse through a price increase alone is akin to dealing with the symptoms of a disease instead of the underlying cause.