Now they want to ban you buying a bottle of wine at supermarket!
ALCOHOL sales in grocers, supermarkets and convenience stores should be banned, according to NHS officials.
A report by public health experts warns alcohol should only be sold in ‘specialised’ shops to tackle the nation’s booze epidemic.
The experts also want alcohol removed from bars in cinemas, theatres and sports events and even call for restrictions on large quantities being bought online.
The controversial demand has sparked fury from consumer groups – but campaigners want the Scottish Government to consider the move.
It would bring off-sales in line with other countries such Sweden, where strong alcohol can only be bought from government-owned specialist stores.
Simon Clark, director of Action on Consumer Choice, said: ‘Restricting the sale of alcohol to specialist off-licences would be a gross infringement on consumer choice.
‘It would almost certainly drive up the cost and fuel illicit trade. The hardest hit will be lawabiding consumers and the less well-off. This is creeping prohibition, reminiscent of the old temperance movement.
‘What next, a licence to purchase alcohol and restrictions on the amount of alcohol consumers can buy?’
The SNP already wants to regulate the cost of alcohol by setting a minimum price.
But the proposals from public health officials go even further by making it more difficult to access.
One quarter of Scots drink at ‘harmful’ levels, which is classed as drinking over 14 units of alcohol a week.
The paper, from NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, has been submitted to the Holyrood health committee which is investigating ways to prevent ill health.
It states that work must be done to protect children from exposure to alcohol and says there ‘needs to be dissociation between sports, cinema and alcohol’.
The report also says ‘it is very difficult for families who wish to discourage children from drinking to go to an alcohol-free environment due to the growth of the onsales and off-sales trade’.
It goes on: ‘This may require the government to take the initiative and introduce specialised off-sales alcohol premises, removing the alcohol from supermarkets, grocers and convenience stores.’
A spokesman for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said last night: ‘These are measures that have been used in other countries to reduce alcohol related harm.’
Alison Douglas, chief executive of Alcohol Focus Scotland said: ‘It’s time we challenged how readily available alcohol is.
‘Alcohol is an age-restricted, addictive product that causes a great deal of harm so selling it separately, as is the case with tobacco, would give people the message that it’s not an ordinary product. We hope the Scottish Government will consider this.’