Lee Wright, a 19-year-old apprentice mechanic from Glasgow, is a self-confessed binge drinker. At least three times a week he will go round to a friend’s house with a “carry-out” with the aim of getting drunk. On a typical night he will get through a bottle of Buckfast tonic wine, a two-litre bottle of strong cider and a few shots of vodka. It costs him about £25 a week and, as far as he’s concerned, he’s doing no harm to anyone or anything except, perhaps, his liver.

“It’s just a social thing for me, something to do after work,” he said. “I don’t go to pubs or clubs. I buy my drink from the local off-licence or the supermarket.”

If the Scottish government has its way, next week will signal the start of a radical shift in his drinking habits, for ministers are about to introduce measures that, they hope, will price him out of the market.

In their sights are youngsters like Lee who regularly drink large quantities of strong beers, cider, fortified wine and alcopops at home or on street corners, encouraged by their easy availability and often wildly discounted prices.

An entire generation has been raised on cut-price deals in supermarkets and off-licences which, in some cases, have made alcohol cheaper than water. A random survey of supermarket shelves last week revealed just how affordable drink has become.

A two-litre bottle of Tesco’s own-brand dry cider was available for 94p; a case of 15 330ml bottles of strong Stella Artois lager on sale at Somerfield for £7.99; a 70cl bottle of vodka could be bought for £6.99 at Morrisons.

Where previous attempts to curb demand for alcohol have failed, Kenny MacAskill, the justice minister, plans to tackle the problem from the supply side. By pricing alcohol beyond the reach of teenagers such as Lee, falling demand will follow, or so goes the thinking.

MacAskill’s plan is to introduce a minimum charge of about 40p per unit of alcohol. Under such a change, the two-litre bottle of cider would quadruple in price to £3.36. The case of Stella Artois would double to £15.99 and the bottle of vodka would rise to £10.50.

MacAskill also plans to ban supermarkets from offering drinks promotions — such as buy one get one free offers — which encourage people to buy more alcohol than they want, and to raise the minimum age for buying alcohol from 18 to 21.

The Scottish government has already legislated to confine alcohol to a small section of supermarkets and MacAskill is expected to use this week’s proposals to press the UK government for a lower drink-drive limit.

First to welcome the proposals will undoubtedly be police and health professionals who have long been demanding firm action to arrest the growing cost of alcohol abuse to the public purse in Scotland — £2 billion a year and rising. It will also be greeted with approval by residents, whose lives have been made miserable by late night antisocial behaviour and violence perpetrated by gangs of drunken youths.

Not everyone will be entirely happy, however, particularly the large number of middle-class drinkers who enjoy a tipple at home and who will see more expensive wine and beer as yet another assault on household budgets that are already under attack from rising food and fuel costs.

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