Now alcoholics set to get their booze ‘on prescription’!
Plan suggests giving Scots up to 12 drinks a day
SCOTS could be given doses of wine ‘on prescription’ thanks to a programme which would see alcoholics given up to 12 glasses a day.
The managed alcohol scheme has been operating in Canada for two decades and experts have visited Scotland to deliver a presentation on the project.
It aims to get homeless drinkers off the street and provide them with a safe place to stay – as well as supplying controlled measures of alcohol.
In Canada, around 12 drinks are given out over a 12-hour period to keep symptoms at bay and keep addicts off the streets.
Although the majority of ‘prescriptions’ are for wine, they could also be for beer or spirits, depending on individual preference.
Residents on the scheme are given just enough alcohol for them to cope, but not so much that they end up intoxicated.
Dr Bernie Pauly visited Scotland earlier this year to give a presentation on the scheme, and the audience included Scottish Government alcohol policy officials.
Discussions are now under way over whether or not a similar pilot scheme would work here.
Dr Pauly, a scientist with the Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research, told the Sunday Post the aim was not necessarily to wean people off alcohol.
She said: ‘These are really programmes that want to reduce the harms of unsafe drinking.
‘Methadone or heroin prescription programmes would be a good comparison, where you are stabilising someone on a substance and connecting them to other health or social services.’
Dr Pauly said those taking part in the Canadian schemes drink less than they did when on the streets, have less harm to their health and drastically reduced contact with emergency services.
She added: ‘Scotland has been so progressive in terms of the minimum pricing policy. Managed alcohol programmes should be part of any alcohol strategy.’ A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘Our discussions with Professor Pauly this year raised a number of important issues.
‘We continue to work with various partners about how to address Scotland’s often troubled relationship with alcohol and will consider what we can learn from managed alcohol programmes under way elsewhere.
‘Our world-leading minimum unit pricing policy now ensures no alcohol can be sold below 50p per unit and the Scottish Government is confident it will make a significant difference to the harm caused by alcohol.’
The disclosure comes two months after officials in Glasgow confirmed the location of the UK’s first ‘fix-room’ for heroin addicts to legally inject.
The centre, where users can take drugs under supervision, has been earmarked for Calton, a deprived area in the east of the city. But the plans for the ‘shooting gallery’ are on hold because a change to the law would be needed before it could fully go ahead.
Last week, it emerged that on average, Scots drank 10.2 litres of pure alcohol each last year.
According to an NHS report, in 2017 the amount of alcohol sold in Scotland equated to each adult consuming 19.6 units – far higher than the limit of 14 units a week which is recommended for adults in the UK.