More people die in Britain today from alcohol related illness than from drug abuse.
As our consumption of alcohol increases alarmingly, the costs to the health service and industry are running into billions of pounds. As our health correpondent Karen Allen reports, pressure is building on the government to act. Although the majority of people drink at levels which are not likely to be harmful, alcohol consumption in Britain is increasing. Despite the fact that Britain lags behind France, Germany and many of the Scandinavian countries in terms of how much we drink, the past decade has seen the number of alcohol related deaths increase by two thirds. In 1997 five thousand people died from problems associated with drinking, nearly three times the figure linked with illicit drug use.