Scotland could become a “nation of drunks” if minimum pricing on alcohol is not introduced, according to Alex Salmond.
The First Minister also accused the Scotch Whisky Association of being dishonest about the motivation behind their opposition to minimum unit pricing (MUP) in an interview with Tony Blair’s former spin doctor, Alastair Campbell, for GQ magazine.
Mr Salmond said he was “significantly” worried about Scotland’s relationship with alcohol and pointed to a major hike in consumption since 1960.
He added: “I promote whisky. I do it on the argument that it’s a quality drink, has a worldwide cachet and that its recent great success in markets like China is about social emulation and authenticity, not cheapness.
“My argument is that if you are promoting it as authentic and of great worth, you cannot promote it from a nation of drunks.
“You’ll never be able to say it is healthy and life giving, but you can say it’s authentic and high quality.
“Actually, I do not believe the Whisky Association’s motivation is about whisky it is about cheap vodka. They say not, but I do not find their arguments convincing.”
The SNP leader also claimed there was a “good argument” for getting rid of alcohol from sport sponsorship and said attitudes towards drinking had changed since his youth.
When asked by Mr Campbell, who has backed campaigns to encourage people to think more about how much they drink, why he was worried about the issue, Mr Salmond said: “General reasons and particular reasons. The general reason is the availability of cheap alcohol and the cultural changes that has introduced.
“When we were young, we would go out for a drink people now go out drunk, having drunk cheap booze before. That is social change for the worse.
“Then there is something deep about Scotland’s relationship with alcohol that is about self-image lack of confidence, maybe, as a nation and we have to do something about it.”
Mr Salmond said he was half “flattered” by when he heard UK Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt say the Westminster Government would wait to see how MUP worked in Scotland before deciding whether to pursue the policy in England and Wales.
The interview was published as it emerged a legal challenge to minimum alcohol pricing had been referred to a European court by the Court of Session.
A spokeswoman for The Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) said: “The SWA has consistently said MUP would be illegal, ineffective in tackling alcohol misuse and would damage the Scotch Whisky industry in the domestic market and overseas.”
The June issue of GQ is on sale today.