Being able to buy a bargain-priced bottle of wine or cider could soon be a thing of the past in Wales if a new law is passed later.
A minimum price per unit of alcohol looks set to be brought in when a vote is held in the assembly on Tuesday.
If the price is set at 50p, it would mean a can of cider would cost at least £1 and a bottle of wine £4.69.
Ministers believe tackling excessive drinking could save one life a week and 1,400 hospital admissions a year.
However, people in Guildhall Square, Carmarthen, were sceptical and believed it would "not put people off" buying booze.
Dean Brace, 20, said: "The price of fags has gone up but people still smoke.
"I think it's a good way to start tackling the problem but I wouldn't say it would sort the problem".
Suzanne Oslan said: "I think it could possibly work but in the long term because the people that are already buying it now will just pay what they have to pay, they will grumble a lot more about it, but they will pay it."
Pricing is seen as a "missing link" in public health efforts, although the Welsh Government has not yet decided what the minimum price should be.
The bill - backed by Labour and Plaid Cymru - is expected to be passed in the Senedd on Tuesday afternoon, with Wales following in the footsteps of Scotland by setting a minimum price per unit.
If so, a public consultation is expected by the end of the year on what the minimum price should be, ahead of its likely introduction in 2019.
Health officials want to cut the number of alcohol-related deaths - 463 in 2015-16 - and the 54,000 alcohol-related admissions to hospital every year.
Binge drinking by young people and excessive drinking by over-50s are the main concerns, although alcohol consumption overall has been falling.
Alcohol sold below 50p per unit makes up 72% of the beer sales in Welsh shops and supermarkets, 78% of the cider sales, 42% of the wine and 66% of the spirits.
The research suggests that while high-risk drinkers make up only a quarter of people who drink alcohol, they are responsible for 72% of all alcohol consumed and 65% of spending.
Other suggestions are that a minimum price could save the NHS £6.5m a year by reducing the impact on hospitals and boost the Welsh economy by £44m a year by reducing workplace absence and crime.
When the bill was introduced last October, Public Health Minister Rebecca Evans said there was "a very clear and direct link between levels of excessive drinking and the availability of cheap alcohol".
However, a spokesman for UKIP in the assembly responded by saying the plan was "another example of nanny-statism" which would "hit the poorest and fail to tackle the underlying social issues which create alcoholism and overconsumption".