PROFESSOR Geoff Palmer (Letters, May 17) has pointed out the obvious flaw in Holyrood's minimum alcohol pricing policy – drink policy ought to apply to the affluent as well as the poor.

It is well recognised that alcohol is a highly addictive drug. It should be treated as such, but it is not. It is used and abused by rich and poor alike because the immediate effects are the same. The danger lies mainly in the way the human brain responds to the delights of endorphins and dopamine. The social acceptability of drinking alcohol in either a palace or a poorhouse masks the seriousness of the addictive properties.To expect a minimum 50p per unit of alcohol to affect these facts is beyond any credible evidence and illustrates a misunderstanding of the problem .

There are also various theories about genetic predisposition and the depressing climate we have in Scotland. We cannot escape the fact, however, that for people at either end of the social spectrum it is a habit which a relatively small increase in cost on certain items will present no more than a passing inconvenience.

Many of those in our society who drink heavily every day and who have been hit hardest by the recession will simply cut back on their staple diet of fast food. They will firstly spend what they can on cheap-end alcohol and buy less food with what is left. If the Scottish Government put a minimum price on knives would it expect crime statistics involving stabbings to decrease?

Bill Brown,

46 Breadie Drive,

Milngavie.