Watchdog backs a minimum price for alcohol

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/10207827.stm

In the past decades the consumption of alcohol has increased, while the prices have gone down. The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, supported by a health watchdog, would like to see a minimum price per unit of alcohol. According to NICE, one out of four adults is drinking too much. NICE says that making alcohol less affordable is the best way to reduce the alcohol consumption, besides the banning of advertising and making it harder for people to buy it. The public health director at NICE, Professor Mike Kelly, said that there will be no damage for pubs, because they sell their alcohol above the minimum price already.

My opinion:
I was shocked when I saw the statistics of the UK alcohol consumption and real price. In twenty years the consumption has gone up by twenty percent, while the prices decreased by forty percent. I think the NICE has a good point by having a minimum price per unit of alcohol. Something has to change in the coming years, because alcohol consumption takes away too many people lives on a yearly basis. With this proposal they will mostly attack the heavier drinkers who buy cheap alcohol and drink at home. This way, the prices in the pubs will be unaffected by this minimum price.