The new alcohol minimum price law will affect low-cost products such as white cider. Credit: Ibrahim Rifath on Unsplash.
The new alcohol minimum price law will affect low-cost products such as white cider. Credit: Ibrahim Rifath on Unsplash.

The Welsh Government has implemented an alcohol minimum price law to reduce hazardous and harmful levels of drinking.

Under the rule, no alcoholic beverage can be sold or supplied for less than 50p a unit in the market.

The policy has been introduced under the Welsh Government’s Public Health (Minimum Price for Alcohol) (Wales) Act 2018.

The law will not have any impact on the majority of alcoholic drinks. It will, however, affect high-strength, low-cost products such as white cider.

Wales Health Minister Vaughan Gething said: “We know when alcohol is cheap and readily available, harmful drinking increases.

“The minimum price won’t affect moderate drinkers who may be worried about the price of a pint goes up. The aim of this legislation is to reduce the harm being done by those most at risk of alcohol abuse.”

According to the government press release, every week, around 10 people die in Wales from alcohol-related causes.

Additionally, NHS Wales spends approximately £159m every year on nearly 60,000 hospital admissions of patients with the alcohol-related disease.

Aneurin Bevan University Health Board public health director Dr Sarah Aitken said: “We see the effects of excessive alcohol consumption on people’s health every day.

“Aside from damaging the liver, alcohol affects the heart, kidneys and brain. It impacts on hospital services, and people’s lives more generally.

“The intervention of minimum pricing will reduce the harm done by alcohol, it’s an important step and will hopefully make people think about their relationship with alcohol.”

In October 2017, Welsh government unveiled the minimum price law for the sale of alcohol, and in June 2018 Welsh Assembly approved a bill to implement a minimum price for alcohol in the region.

The success of a similar law yielded in Scotland inspired the decision.

The statement added: “In Scotland, where a minimum price was introduced in May 2018, early indicators are encouraging, with a reduction in the annual volume of pure alcohol in drinks sold, and a fall in the volume of alcohol sold at very low prices.”