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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
|---|---|
| Alcohol tax urged to fund rehabilitation | Alcohol tax urged to fund rehabilitation |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| Alcohol taxes should be increased to fund rehabilitation services, a think tank has urged ministers. | |
| The Centre for Social Justice said a "treatment tax" on alcohol sold in shops could add 2p to a can of lager and 9p on a bottle of wine. | |
| The money raised would fund residential rehabilitation services, it said. | The money raised would fund residential rehabilitation services, it said. |
| The Department of Health said it had no plans to put more duty on alcohol but planned to allow councils a budget of £5.4bn for public health work. | The Department of Health said it had no plans to put more duty on alcohol but planned to allow councils a budget of £5.4bn for public health work. |
| The CSJ, which seeks to tackle poverty and its causes, said the costs of addiction were rising, with alcohol-related admissions to hospital "doubling in a decade". | |
| Its report says 300,000 people in England are addicted to opiates and/or crack, 1.6 million are dependent on alcohol and one in seven children under the age of one lives with a substance-abusing parent. | Its report says 300,000 people in England are addicted to opiates and/or crack, 1.6 million are dependent on alcohol and one in seven children under the age of one lives with a substance-abusing parent. |
| Abstinence-based | Abstinence-based |
| A levy of 1p per unit of alcohol should be added on drinks purchased outside pubs by the end of the next Parliament, it said. | |
| It estimated this would raise £1.1bn over five years, which it suggested spending solely on setting up a network of more than 350 abstinence-based rehabilitation centres and providing funding to treat 40 people in each of them. | It estimated this would raise £1.1bn over five years, which it suggested spending solely on setting up a network of more than 350 abstinence-based rehabilitation centres and providing funding to treat 40 people in each of them. |
| The CSJ's director, Christian Guy, told BBC Breakfast: "At the moment we do very little for alcoholics, and for drug addicts we just dump them on methadone. | |
| "The chance to get clean in this country is the preserve of the wealthy. For the poor, for the people relying on a public system, there's very little choice to get clean." | "The chance to get clean in this country is the preserve of the wealthy. For the poor, for the people relying on a public system, there's very little choice to get clean." |
| A Department of Health spokesman said: "We are not considering a tax on particular drinks. | |
| "Instead, we are reducing alcohol harm by giving local authorities a £5.4bn budget to help them manage public health issues including alcohol and drug services." | "Instead, we are reducing alcohol harm by giving local authorities a £5.4bn budget to help them manage public health issues including alcohol and drug services." |
| He added: "We have also banned sales of the cheapest cut-price alcohol." | |
| Local authorities had the best understanding of local needs to be able to assess, plan and deliver alcohol and drug services and treatment in their areas, he added. | Local authorities had the best understanding of local needs to be able to assess, plan and deliver alcohol and drug services and treatment in their areas, he added. |
| Duty to help | |
| Sally Marlow, an alcohol addiction specialist, said there were "problems with the proposal". | |
| But she added: "If we're going to sell it, if we're going to legitimise it and say we sanction alcohol then we have a duty also to say to the people who get into trouble with it, 'we'll help you with it - we'll help you get out of the trouble that you're in'." | |
| The CSJ made a similar proposal in 2007 when the current Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith was in charge of the think tank. | The CSJ made a similar proposal in 2007 when the current Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith was in charge of the think tank. |
| The BBC understands Mr Duncan Smith continues to support the idea. | The BBC understands Mr Duncan Smith continues to support the idea. |