Drinking row doctor calls for alcohol tax riseAnushka Asthana
Sunday October 21, 2007
The Observer
The doctor who caused controversy by admitting guidelines on safe drinking were 'plucked out of the air' 20 years ago says alcohol is a 'lethal substance' and should be taxed more heavily.
Richard Smith said he watched his brother, the comedian Arthur Smith, come 'within a whisker of death' as a result of alcohol and he never meant to suggest that heavy drinking was not harmful. 'The suggestion that the guidelines were "useless" is not what I meant at all,' said Smith. 'That would be a very serious misinterpretation.'
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