Scotland's deeply unhealthy relationship with alcohol has been the subject of much debate recently.

But it's not until the reality of it is witnessed first hand that the true extent of the problem becomes apparent. A realisation dawns that it will need much more than a quick government anti alcohol PR campaign to remedy.

As a guest at a recent Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) event - sort of boxing on steroids – the morality of which is for another day, I was more taken aback by the abuse of alcohol by the audience rather than the not insignificant physical abuse taking place in the ring.

When did a sporting event suddenly become an excuse to down lorryloads of alcohol? I do not exaggerate when I say that the whole hall was literally swimming in the stuff. Despite the best efforts of the staff to collect empties the floor was ankle deep in bottles by the end.

Now ok, a couple of beers watching the football is a harmless Scottish tradition. But this was drinking on an industrial scale.

A bar that had been stacked high with beer, cider and wine at the start of the evening was completely demolished, not a drop left and still an hour of the event to go. A crowd of perhaps three hundred had drunk an articulted lorry load of booze over the space of four hours.

It would appear the national pastime is no longer watching sport it has merely become a sideshow in an attempt to drink as much as possible within a given time frame.

Thirty years ago people at boxing matches were there to see boxing not to drink. This seeming acceptance of casual alcohol abuse is now so in bedded in Scottish culture and society that it now needs major surgery if we are to recover from this collective addiction to the hard stuff.

There are three simple ways to change this cultural phenomenon; price, accessibility and education.

Price. The price of alcohol is at an all time low, per unit it is more affordable than at any time in history. In some supermarkets it is literally cheaper than water.

The government needs to get its minimum price legislation back on the agenda as quickly as possible, but it needs to be much more draconian. Bring per unit prices back in line with what they were 40 years ago. In real terms that would mean bringing the price of an average bottle of wine up to around £10 a bottle, £25 for a bottle of whisky and £5 plus per pint of beer.

Secondly availability. It is time the government looked to the Scandinavian model and banned alcohol sales in supermarkets and grocers. It should only be for sale in dedicated off licence stores that have severely restricted opening hours, four hours per day perhaps. There should also be a limit to how much people can buy during each visit.

And thirdly culture. This was the most striking thing about the weekend's bout. It was open to all ages. Apart from the moral argument about letting seven year olds watch two grown men knock lumps out of each other, in this environment they will see excessive drinking as normal behaviour and grow up thinking it is just what you do.

A campaign needs to go hand in hand with the first two measures to educate parents that their drinking habits are potentially destroying not just their own health but potentially their children's future health as well.

This country is drinking more per capita than any time since record began. It is a drinking epidemic.

Some would argue that a such drastic measures go against freedom of choice. But when such choice starts to destroy not just the individual but those around them as well, the time has come for that choice to be restricted.