Cheap booze ban ‘urgent’
A SURFER who promised his parents he would never surf again after spending 32 hours adrift at sea changed his mind after a visit to Surf Snowdonia.
Matthew Bryce, 24, was found clinging to his board 13 miles from the coast of Northern Ireland after strong winds and the tide dragged him out to sea from Westport Beach, Kintyre.
Following the drama in May he said: “It was incredibly lonely and quiet because there was just nothing – just waves. I hadn’t seen any helicopters. I was thinking I was going to die – I was almost convinced. I didn’t think I would see sunrise.”
Matthew spent eight days in hospital recovering from hypothermia, and had said his experience had been too traumatic to contemplate surfing again.
However, he had a change of heart after receiving an invitation from staff at Surf Snowdonia to visit the attraction in the Conwy Valley.
Together with a group of friends and his girlfriend, Matthew took to the waves once again on Friday.
“I was pretty much resigned to the fact that I was not going to be surfing again,” said Matthew, from Airdrie, Scotland. “But Surf Snowdonia got in touch and said ‘we can get you back in the water’. It’s somewhere safe, it’s not in the sea. It was a really nice gesture.”
He added: “I can’t just stop, I enjoy surfing too much. This has been a great stepping stone to actually going back out in the sea.” A BAN on cheap alcohol is “urgently needed” in Wales after new figures revealed a sharp rise in alcohol-related deaths in Wales, it is claimed.
According to a new Welsh Government report, 504 people died from alcohol abuse in Wales in 2016 – an increase of 8.9% on the previous 12 months.
The report shows nearly half of people assessed with a substance misuse problem in Wales were suffering from problematic alcohol use.
In 2016, one in five adults reported drinking more than the UK Chief Medical Officers’ recommended 14 units a week limit for alcohol consumption.
Health Secretary Vaughan Gething said the new figures show there is an urgent need to address the affordability of alcohol as part of wider efforts to tackle alcohol-related harm.
The Welsh Government recently unveiled a new Bill to introduce a minimum price for the sale of booze, as part of efforts to tackle the availability of strong, cheap alcohol.
Mr Gething said: “Substance misuse is a major health issue that affects the wellbeing of individuals, families and communities across the length and breadth of Wales. The Welsh Government invests almost £50m a year in tackling the harms associated within substance misuse..
“Preventing future substance misuse is as important as treating the established problem. We know that the harm associated with alcohol misuse in particular is a pressing concern and that’s why there is now an urgent need to tackle the affordability of cheap, strong alcohol, through introducing a minimum unit price for the sale of alcohol.”
But not all Welsh politicians are convinced that a minimum unit price for alcohol will help.
Ukip’s Caroline Jones said: “This is the wrong approach. Making alcohol more expensive will not stop drinking to excess and is unfair to responsible drinkers, particularly those on low incomes.
“There is growing evidence that the largest group of binge drinkers are middle-aged high earners. According to the Welsh Health Survey 47% of the least deprived in Wales drink more than the recommended amount: 28% of the least deprived are so-called binge drinkers.”
The report also noted an increase in drug use and drug-related deaths. In 2016, there were 271 drug poisoning deaths in Wales: 192 of these involved illegal drugs.