Scots Need Alcohol Awareness Classes Too

by: Mike Miller
7/3/2016

When one thinks of heavy drinking among the countries of the British Isles, Ireland usually is the first to come to mind. It turns out Scotland could use a good dose of alcohol awareness courses as well.

Worrying about the alcohol consumption among its constituents, the administrators in Lothian, Scotland have been running an alcohol intervention program on the people admitted to their local hospital. Their original concerns appear to be well justified.

Scary Findings

The scheme was launched in 2009 as a tactic to shock people of all ages and social class about the dangers of alcohol. After testing more than 30,000 patients in the local hospital, more than 12,000 patients were found to be drinking hazardous amounts of alcohol - including those in maternity wards. By gender, they found that 40 percent of Lothian men and about 33% of women were urged to cut down or quit drinking alcohol all together!

Scots’ Allow Double the Drinks as USA

Those found to be drinking too much were handed appropriate advice depending on the severity of their problem. Patients would be classed as "hazardous" if they were regularly exceeding daily limits of three-four units for men and two-three for women. In the United States they recommend no more than two alcohol drinks for men and one for women.

Anyone drinking more than two drinks per day should seriously consider cutting back. Remember, alcohol is a poison and certainly is not doing the body good with excess consumption.