ONE of Scotland’s leading experts on alcohol addiction has called for a revival of the temperance movement after a report revealed drink-related deaths have doubled in the last decade.

Dr Alasdair Young, a consultant psychiatrist at Castle Craig clinic in Peebles, said a return to 19th-century attitudes to drink were needed to counter the destructive culture of binge drinking that is destroying the fabric of society.

A study published in the Lancet this week revealed cirrhosis is killing 3,000 Scots a year when the European-wide rate is falling dramatically.

Scotland, which had the lowest death toll 50 years ago, now has the third worst, according to the study by David Leon at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

It is the result, say experts, of 20 years of liberal drink laws, an increase in the number of pubs and off-licences and the availability of alcohol which is 54% cheaper in relative terms than it was in 1980.

That combination has created a culture of binge drinking, particularly in the home, where children are learning that excessive drinking is normal.

Young believes the principals of the temperance movement, which was a political force more than a century ago, may be the country’s best hope.

“There are signs of resurgence, particularly in America, a growing mood among people and the medical profession to reject alcohol. It may be time for us to do it,” he said.

“We are reaping rewards from 20 years ago when liberalisation began. Binge drinking exploded among younger people who are suffering at an earlier age from addiction and disease. We must halt further relaxation of drinking laws and any strategy which reduces the cost of alcohol.”

Dr Peter Rice, of the Royal College of Physicians, in Edinburgh, a member of the inter-collegiate group on alcohol, said: “The temperance movement called it the evils of drink. Today, we call it the seriously harmful affects of abuse.

“The mood is the same, with the public and the medical profession, pushing society toward more control on liberal drink laws and the availability of alcohol.”

Lewis Macdonald, the deputy health minister, said he was launching a national awareness campaign and spending £10m in the next year on the treatment of alcohol problems.

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