Should there be a minimum price for alcohol?

ALCOHOL minimum pricing is not the way to tackle problem drinking any more than upping the tax on betting would be a way to help gamblers. Those with a problem will always find a way to fund their habit. Scotland’s politicians are taking an easy route just so they can be seen to be doing something. LiNDA KENNEDY, Glasgow. WE SCOTS have had a minimum price for alcohol imposed on us by those we elected, who will continue to enjoy subsidised drinks paid for by the electors. A. GrANT, Glasgow. OF COURSE there are problems with alcohol addiction, but when you price it out of the market, you are simply encouraging bootleggers. There is already a flourishing black market of counterfeit alcohol and now Scots will see ‘booze cruises’ across the Border. Will high prices solve alcoholism? No. It’s just that the rich will be able to offset their alcohol purchasing with tax allowances while the poor drunk will be drinking moonshine. s. T. VAUGHAN, Birmingham. CAN we expect a run on the off-licences of Carlisle and Berwick-upon-Tweed? Coach firms from Thurso to Troon will be planning a booze bonanza. And before long canny businessmen will be opening new outlets in English border towns.

DAi WoosNAM, Grimsby. The Scottish Government is determined to jack up the price of cider. Is this the same administration that’s pushing for a ‘shooting gallery’ where addicts can inject in comfortable surroundings? This latter plan is in legal bother – no doubt we will have to throw good money after bad for a long court case, just like with the Named Persons plan. iAN GiLL, Glasgow.