London just might be in need of an intervention—at least according to one report released by the GLA Conservatives group. Entitled “On the Wagon,” the report claims that in 2013, up to 7 percent of London’s ambulatory responses were to incidents involving alcohol, costing the government-run National Health Service over £16 million in services. And, if suspicions are confirmed, that number only increased in 2014.
According to Londonist, the GLA (which is made up of the Conservative members of the Greater London Authority) is calling for three new sobering centers and ten new booze buses, designed specifically to help patients with alcohol-related illnesses and injuries, as well as increased fines for disorderly behavior while under the influence.
While these efforts may act as a stopgap to hem the cost of increasingly boozy behavior, they sidestep the larger issue at play: the city’s problematic drinking culture. [Londonist] [Photo: Flickr/Benjamin Ellis]