Moves are afoot in UK government circles to look at reducing the drink driving limit from 80mg to 50 mg per 100ml, and no sooner has the word got out, than there is an outcry. Who from, you ask? Well the publicans and the drinks industry of course.
It is calculated that this reduction would save 160 lives in the first year in the UK alone! Once again we are up against the powerful drinks industry. They couldn't agree on minimum pricing in Scotland, because they claimed there was no link which proved that lives could be saved, and I fear we are all on that merry go round again. Remember the tobacco industry said similar things about the smoking ban in public places? They are very quiet now, because the medical society was right all along. Once again, we have the medics lining up against the drinks industry, and they will trot out the same tired old stuff again.
The vast majority of European countries are already using the 50mg level, and we would be in line with them, no different, and not any stricter. I fear we will get bogged down in statistics again, and forget the 160 lives which could be saved in the first year. It seems that 160 deaths are not enough to sway the opinion, or the balance sheets of the big alcohol companies. I wonder how many lives it would take?
The Scottish Government stalled at the introduction of the minimum pricing bill, and it failed amongst parties each blaming the other for the failure. Please let's not hesitate again when we have another chance of facing down the breweries. We have a UK and Scottish drink problem, and everyone knows it. This is a 'no brainer' and needs to be implemented to save lives, so let's all stand against the other so called educated, well spoken 'no brainers' who will try to rubbish the worth of a life!
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