Heavy Drinkers’ Perspectives on Minimum Unit Pricing for Alcohol in Scotland

The irrefutable consequence of Scottish excessive alcohol consumption has prompted implementation and proposal of\udalcohol policy measures. The purpose of this study is to explore with heavy drinkers their awareness of and identify potential\udimplications of policy introducing alcohol minimum unit pricing (MUP). Face-to-face semi-structured interviews were\udconducted with drinkers with alcohol-related harm (n = 20; 15 males, five females; aged 34 to 67 years old) in Scotland’s two\udlargest cities (drinkers were participants within a larger quantitative study, through attendance for treatment for alcoholrelated\udharms at National Health Service [NHS] centers). Median weekly consumption among participants was 130.7 units\ud(range: 28-256.3 U.K. units). Views regarding the impact of increased alcohol prices, through MUP, were mixed. While some\uddrinkers indicated potential reduction in intake, thus possibly reducing alcohol harms in the long term, the expected, or even\uddesired, from a public health perspective, effects on consumption and associated harms might not be fully realized in this\udgroup. To mitigate possible unintended short-term detrimental effects of MUP on the most vulnerable, careful planning and\udappropriate resourcing may be required prior to implementation