SCOTLAND'S top alcohol doctor has urged the government to tackle the cheap booze culture which, he says, is fuelling health inequalities in Glasgow.

SCOTLAND'S top alcohol doctor has urged the government to tackle the cheap booze culture which, he says, is fuelling health inequalities in Glasgow.

Dr Bruce Ritson said claims that minimum pricing for alcohol would penalise poorer people were wrong.

The medic, who is chair of Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems, said there was a direct correlation between plummeting booze prices and the number of people dying from alcohol related diseases.

He said in some areas of the West of Scotland the alcohol-related death rates are now between five and seven times higher than the UK rate.

A study by Glasgow University and the Medical Research Council listed 17 areas where death rates are double or more than the overall rate for Scotland.

In Ibrox the number of men dying of alcohol related conditions was 176 per 100,000 from 2000-2005, more than four times the UK national average of 38.

Calton in the East End came second with 166 deaths, followed by Linwood in Renfrewshire.

He said: "If we really want to reduce health inequalities in Scotland then we must tackle harmful drinking.

"We have seen alcohol being sold for as little as 23p a unit and as prices have plummeted, the number of people dying from alcohol has increased most in deprived areas.

"Far from 'penalising' poorer people, preventing the sale of cheap alcohol will have the greatest health benefit for people living in the most deprived areas of Scotland".