Alcohol law complaint

THE secretary of Health for the PSIB (Majorcan Socialists), Vicens Thomas, yesterday criticised the Balearic Government for not having fulfilled their promise to pass a law regulating the sale and consumption of alcohol in the region. He said that this was due to the Government being subjected to “pressure” from the wine and spirits industry and having “private interests” in the sector, instead of solving a public health problem which affects a large number of Balearic citizens. Thomas said that the only explanation possible is that the Balearic Government has listened to the sector's requirements in eliminating alcohol from the Law of Drugdependency which it approved in this term of office, and has chosen to “obey their advice and opinions” in excluding from the legal text this group which represent the “primary drug consumption problem in the Balearics”. “We are aware of these pressures because we had the same when the Pacto de Progreso was in Government and we met the wine producing companies to try to get an agreement on the wording of the law”.