The Government would be well advised to treat the report of the National Substance Misuse Strategy Steering Group, which was published yesterday, with extreme caution.
The report calls for the introduction of a series of blunt restrictions on the marketing and sale of alcohol on the basis of what can only be described as suspect criteria.
According to the report, alcohol abuse cost the health service €1.2bn in 2007 and that alcohol-related crime cost a further €1.19bn during the same year.
Quite apart from the fact that such figures being almost five years old are hopelessly out-of-date, one should always retain a healthy scepticism of such suspiciously precise numbers.
Source: Irish Independent, 08/02/2012