Temperance comes at a price

Sir, – It must be pleasing for M. Duncan (Courier May 9) to be so sure that most of our woes stemming from alcohol misuse will soon be behind us.

Funnily enough, that’s exactly what the American Women’s Christian Temperance Movement thought in January 1919 when they forced their government into banning the making of alcohol as well as its sale.

One of the reasons given for the repeal of that disastrous Act in December 1933 was: “It has turned the majority of our citizens into lawbreakers overnight”.

Yes, the minimum pricing of alcohol will have some benefits no doubt, but just as the Americans soon found out when Al Capone came into the picture, there are serious nonfinancial prices to pay for the benefits of national temperance.

Both petty and serious crime rocketed in the USA as it might well do in Scotland, for those who have been accustomed to drinking to excess will not stop their lifetime habit either suddenly or easily: shoplifting, bagsnatching and hold-ups will undoubtedly increase in number to fund a habit that is not easy to control.

The overstretched police force and us taxpayers may soon pay the price.

Would it not have been better to raise the cost of alcohol bit by bit over several years? Archibald A Lawrie. Church Wynd, Kingskettle.