Saturday 25 April 2009

A LONG JOURNEY

THIS IS THE BLOG OF COLIN JONES, RHYL TOWN COUNCILLOR: BODFOR WARD
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The opinions expressed in this blog are entirely my own and not the views of the town council.
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Yesterday a front page story highlighted the government’s failure to deal with the nation’s alcohol problem. The decision to lower the classification of cannabis had to be reversed in the light of experience, and now the decision to relax controls on alcohol needs to be rescinded. The number of alcohol-related deaths, illnesses and crimes has been underestimated. Taxpayers have to pick up the bills for these mistakes.

Recently the Government ducked an opportunity to fix minimum prices on alcohol (an idea already under consideration in Scotland) and it continues to allow booze to be sold in convenience stores and grocery shops as if it is some kind of food. Some supermarkets sell the stuff dirt cheap almost as a loss leader. Britain is going the wrong way and needs to turn round and start a long journey towards getting alcohol classified as an illegal drug.

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