The public outcry over Buckfast may have increased its notoriety and turned a potentially short-lived craze into the staple drink of young offenders, an alcohol expert has warned.
MSPs are considering limiting the volume of caffeine in alcoholic drinks in a Bill partly designed to break the link between tonic wine and offending.
Holyrood’s Health Committee has heard from a panel of experts who unanimously agreed tonic wine’s alleged propensity to exacerbate alcohol-related offending is inconclusive and urged MSPs to focus on tackling cheap alcohol.
Consultant psychiatrist Dr Peter Rice, chair of Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems, said “the discussion around the tonic wines may in fact have made things worse”.
GP Dr Colette Maule, of BMA Scotland, and Alison Christie, policy officer of Scottish Families Affected by Alcohol and Drugs, said they are less concerned about particular brands than the quantity of cheap alcohol consumed.
Petrina Macnaughton, research and policy co-ordinator at Alcohol Focus Scotland, said the link between caffeinated alcohol and offending is “not conclusive”, but urged MSPs to limit caffeine to see what happens.
Dr Rice said: “My own view is the discussion around tonic wines may in fact have made things worse.
“It may have established a reputation for a particular product which then becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
“What might have been a short-lived craze has become a more long-lived craze.
“We have never drawn attention to caffeinated products because we think, actually, some of the public attention around it might be detrimental.”
Policy notes accompanying the Alcohol (Licensing, Public Health and Criminal Justice) (Scotland) Bill, lodged by Labour MSP Dr Richard Simpson cite “a number of academic studies examining the effects of consuming alcohol in conjunction with caffeine” such as being “wired awake drunk” and taking more risks.
The Scottish Prison Service found that 43.4% of inmates had consumed Buckfast before their last offence, despite accounting for less than 1% of total alcohol sales nationally.
But Dr Rice said Buckfast is mostly a west coast problem which is not as prevalent elsewhere in Scotland and cited evidence which suggests it is the alcohol and not the caffeine that is the problem.
“The alerting effect that is often attributed to caffeine may be an intrinsic effect of the interaction of alcohol and the still developing male brain,” he said.
Dr Maule said: “When I see patients in my surgery who are having problems with alcohol, it tends to be because it is lower-priced rather than because it particularly has caffeine in it.
“I don’t think there is a lot of discrimination at times between which alcohol people take, it’s just the price that is really the problem.”
Ms Christie said: “We don’t have any families that are concerned about particular brands or products, it’s about the volume and how accessible it is to buy it cheaply.”
Ms Macnaughton said: “We would agree certainly that price and affordability are the key drivers in increased consumption and harm.
“But in relation to caffeinated alcohol there is research that shows that amongst young offenders there is a high proportion that drink caffeinated drinks.”
She added: “I think the evidence is indicative. It’s not conclusive, I agree, but the cost of implementing such a restriction on caffeine content I’m not sure would be that high.
“Putting less caffeine into a drink, I don’t know if that would be a costly measure to implement and you could evaluate the effects of that on alcohol-related offending.”