The Scottish Government's proposals to tackle the heavy toll of alcohol abuse are bold but, despite agreement that radical measures are needed, will prove divisive. The most controversial is to raise the minimum age for buying alcohol from off-licences and super- markets from 18 to 21. It follows pilot schemes in three areas which reduced crime and vandalism, but applying it across the country would highlight the inconsistency of allowing 18 to 21-year-olds to buy alcohol in pubs and clubs but not in shops. It also sends a confusing message to young people deemed old enough to marry, become parents, be sent to war and elect a government. It becomes ludicrous when proposed by politicians who are also suggesting lowering the voting age to 16. The real lesson of the pilot schemes may be to enforce the current law more effectively to prevent under-18s buying alcohol or having it bought for them.

Measures related to the price of alcohol are more promising, but also problematic. The proposals to ban three-for-two-type promotions would end the selling of drinks as loss leaders and the absurdity of selling alcohol more cheaply than bottled water. Setting a minimum price at which a unit of alcohol can be sold would reinforce the effect of banning promotions but raises the difficulty of how that would clear competition law, and a minimum figure applied only in Scotland seems likely to lead to an increase in cross-border trade. Nevertheless, relating cost to alcohol strength holds out the possibility of raising awareness about the amount of alcohol in any given drink, and there is a correlation between cost and consumption. A social responsibility fee levied on bigger retailers to help pay for the consequences of alcohol misuse will be resisted as another price rise, but the principle that the polluter pays is essentially fair. Requiring alcohol to be purchased at a separate till may reduce the casual addition of wine or beer to the shopping, but its main advantage would be that specialist staff would be better at deterring under-age customers. That is vital: the latest worrying figures, this time from the World Health Organisation's survey of school-aged children, found that young Scots were likely to be drunk at least twice by the time they were 13 and that 17% of 15-year-olds in Scotland consumed spirits weekly, the highest level in the UK and in the top 10 internationally. This follows already disturbing evidence that alcohol-related deaths have almost doubled in the past decade, that the rate of cirrhosis of the liver is growing faster than almost anywhere in the world, and that alcohol is a significant factor in rates of suicide and homicide that are nearly double those in England and Wales.

There is no doubt that, with the damage done by alcohol costing an estimated £2.25bn a year, it is time for a new approach. Panic measures, however, tend to be ineffective in the long-term. Culture change takes longer, but that is what we need and that requires concerted action across education, health and criminal justice as well as the licensed and retail trades.