UK: High-risk drinkers number doubled during lockdown

The number of people drinking at high-risk levels has almost doubled since just before the UK’s lockdown, experts have warned.

Sky News reports that an estimated 8.4 million people drank “high-risk” amounts of alcohol in June, compared to 4.8 million people four months earlier, the Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCP) said.

Dr Adrian James, the RCP’s president, said the government needed to commit “substantial” investment in public health to prevent more lives from being “needlessly lost” to addiction.

Dr James said: “Addiction services have been starved of funding in recent years meaning many are not able to treat and care for the huge numbers of people who are drinking at high risk.

“More lives will be needlessly lost to addiction unless the government acts now and commits to substantial investment in public health, including adult addiction services, in the spending review.

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