Rejected petition Abandon plans for a minimum price on alcohol

The Home Secretary has announced a plans for a minimum pricing structure on alcohol; this will double the cost of some drinks and penalise the poorest in our nation, and problem drinkers will likely alter their buying habits to afford more alcohol or buy from criminal gangs, smugglers and bootleggers.
The evidence being used to support such schemes is flimsy at best; health outcomes have been improving year on year for decades and rates of alcohol abuse and related illness have also been dropping; faux-charities are using scare tactics to push for legislation that will be largely open-ended and punitive to responsible drinkers whilst doing nothing about the underlying problem.
I thus call upon the Home Secretary and Prime Minister to honour their manifesto commitment to smaller, less invasive government control over our freedoms and abandon this new encroachment on our freedoms.