"OBSCENE" economic greed is preventing action to tackle the dangers of binge drinking, says a North-East academic.
Criminology Professor Dick Hobbs, from Durham University, believes a hypocritical attitude to alcohol seems to exist.
Despite the problems of drunkeness, the Government continues to value the jobs and the £7bn in tax it gets from the industry.
Prof Hobbs' study, in the Economic and Social Research Council's Seven Deadly Sins report published today, says: "Currently, it is the logic of the market and not the logic derived from careful data analysis that informs the everyday reality of the Government's policy on alcohol.
"In such a confused environment, the binge drinker has captured the nation's headlines.
"Yet it is the obscene binge of simple economic greed that stymies effective political action."
He says Labour's relaxing of the licensing hours was part of an Act opposed by "the entire research community", which believed reducing consumption by imposing more extensive supply controls was vital to have an impact on alcohol-related harm.
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