UK needs national strategy to tackle harms of alcohol, argue experts as Tommy Fury admits booze problem
The harms of alcohol in Scotland and the UK are well-known. In 2023, 1,277 people died from alcohol-related causes in Scotland, which is the highest number in 15 years, latest figures from National Records of Scotland show.
This is a continuation of an upward trend in alcohol deaths since 2012. Deaths south of the border have also reached their highest level on record, according to the British Medical Journal, which is now calling for drastic action.
Celebrities often go public with their battles with the bottle in the hopes of spreading awareness. This week, Tommy Fury came clean about the real cause behind his split with Molly-Mae Hague.
READ MORE: Microsoft app warning as Windows 10 users will see major change this year
READ MORE: M&S shoppers buying these 'staple' £29.50 trousers as an 'alternative to jeans'
The boxer owned up to having a serious alcohol problem, which he confirmed was the catalyst for the breakdown of his five-year romance with the famed beauty influencer, whom he met on Love Island in 2019.
In a candid interview with Men’sHealth magazine, the 25-year-old dismissed cheating claims, while admitting that his battle with booze meant he "couldn't be the partner that I wanted to be".
"We broke up because I had a problem with alcohol and I couldn't be the partner that I wanted to be anymore," Fury said. "It kills me to say it, but I couldn't. I loved a pint of beer, loved to drink."
He went on: "It was the drink, and the drink is not a good thing. You need to get a grip of it. If you're in the same spot as me, where you just think that it's going to cure all your problems, it doesn't.
"You wake up even worse and you want to drink more to try and feel happy again. That's the cycle of it. I've got myself out of that now, but... not once did anyone ask how I was. I checked my inbox."
Experts, like Julia Sinclair at the University of Southampton, warn that successive governments' cuts have led to reduced provision and quality of alcohol treatment, and say sustained funding is needed for screening and care.
The pros are calling for a national strategy to tackle alcohol harms like routine screening in primary care, acute hospitals, and mental health services to help clinicians identify higher risk alcohol use and related harms, such as liver disease, at an earlier stage.
A national strategy would also provide a more consistent response to the tobacco, gambling, and alcohol industries, they insisted, as where the gambling industry is subject to a "polluter pays" levy for associated health harms, alcohol producers have received a decade of cuts or freezes to alcohol duty, widening rather than limiting their market.
The boffins did, however, point to Scotland's alcohol strategy as a good example. Scotland established national data systems on hospital admissions for alcohol harm by levels of deprivation, introduced public health measures including a minimum unit pricing and evaluated its impact.
Sinclair and the experts in the BMJ said: "The costs of alcohol harms to individuals and society are well documented... but, as the progress made in Scotland shows, much can be done when there is the government will to do it."
Don't miss the latest news from around Scotland and beyond - Sign up to our newsletter here .
