SIR: Last year, the Council acted very quickly to ban posters from advertising alcoholic soft drinks on council-owned land. This represented a part of the public pressure which caused the drinks industry to produce a code of conduct on the packaging and advertising of these products. These drinks appeal to young people and use familiar names such as lemonade, cola, and soda to blur the distinction between soft drinks and alcohol. They also taste sweet to disguise the alcoholic nature and potency of the drink.

However, the growth in this trade has continued since then and a visit to any supermarket will now reveal shelves likely to contain between 20 and 40 different lines of these products (out of the 89 known varieties). The alcoholic content is between four per cent and 5.5 per cent by volume, stronger than many beers and lagers.

I would like to see the drinks industry divert some of its resources towards much more effective alcohol awareness and education programmes, to be delivered through schools. It is unfortunate that the move towards active dance-related social activities rather than those which are drink-related has been hijacked by the systematic 'spiking' of the soft drinks which are much more appropriate for dancers but which generate less profit at the clubs. This is part of the backdrop to the growth of this phenomenon but it has spread much more widely, and very quickly. I would urge anyone who feels strongly about this issue to write to their local MP, or to the Portman Group, at 2d Wimpole Street, London W1M 7AA to register their concerns.

Cllr Stuart Murray

Astley Bridge Ward

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