Official government figures have just been released which reveal the following [pdf page 53]:
- Average unit consumption for adults fell from 14.1 to 11.3 units between 2003 and 2012
- In 2012, men drank an average of 4.6 units less per week than in 2003 (19.8 units in 2003 and 15.2 units in 2012). Average unit consumption for women declined from 9.0 units per week in 2003 to 7.6 units in 2012.
- The proportion of adults drinking at hazardous or harmful levels has declined since 2003 (from 33% of men and 23% of women to 25% of men and 18% of women in 2012)
- Average unit consumption on the heaviest drinking day declined between 2003 and 2012 from 6.5 to 5.6 units for men and from 3.6 to 2.8 units for women. There has also been a decline in the proportion of men and women exceeding the recommended daily amount on their heaviest drinking day (from 45% in 2003 to 42% in 2012 for men and from 37% to 30% for women). The proportion exceeding twice the recommended daily amount has also declined slightly for men (from 29% to 25%) and women (from 19% to 15%).
- In 2003, 53% of men and 42% of women drank outwith the weekly and/or daily consumption guidelines. By 2012, 47% of men and 35% of women exceeded the recommended levels.
- In 2012, men drank on an average of 2.8 days in the previous week and women drank on an average of 2.5 days, a reduction since 2003, when men drank on an average of 3.3 days and women on 2.7 days.
- Since 2003 there has been a decline in the proportion of adults drinking on more than 5 days in the previous week from 17% to 12% in 2012
These are stunning statistics, an across the board decline of 15% to 30% in less than ten years! What's more, "the proportion of adults drinking at hazardous or harmful levels" - the ones always cited by health campaigners to divert attention from the overall decline - are at the high end with 22% to 25% decreases for women and men respectively.
It's a Scottish frenzy of reduced consumption! I'll bet the massed ranks of alcohol controllers must be ecstatic.
Indeed so. They urgently rushed out one of their regular avalanche of press releases yesterday. It went something like this.
It's a Scottish frenzy of reduced consumption! I'll bet the massed ranks of alcohol controllers must be ecstatic.
Indeed so. They urgently rushed out one of their regular avalanche of press releases yesterday. It went something like this.
 |
| "♫ Drifting along with the tumbling tumbleweeds ♫" |
That's right. There was no optimistic press release; no welcome for fantastic news; no rejoicing. In fact, nothing at all. It was as if the Scottish Health Survey had been blackballed for, well, telling the truth.
It seems that - for the self-declared protecters of health - reporting on good news is somehow taboo. Could it be that they are more interested in their own future funding than applauding the restraint of Scottish citizens?
After all, if their claimed catastrophic 'epidemic' of alcohol carnage is exposed as a myth - which, as you can see from these figures, it is - there's not much urgent need to shovel cash their way during straitened times, now is there?
