Government fails to help the victims of New Zealand's heavy drinking culture

The Government's new 225-page Alcohol Reform Bill, tabled in Parliament yesterday, fails to help the 700,000 heavy drinkers in New Zealand, nor the children, loved ones and innocent bystanders who are also victims of their dangerous drinking, Alcohol Action NZ said today.

"The new Bill is deeply disappointing" said University of Otago's Professor Doug Sellman, one of the medical spokespeople for Alcohol Action NZ. "It will make next to no difference to the hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders whose lives are being harmed by their own and other people's dangerous drinking".

"The Bill's first stated objective is to "reduce excessive drinking of young people and adults", but then it fails to implement every substantial measure that would actually reduce the excessive drinking culture."

There are four things that would make a significant difference to excessive drinking in New Zealand. Put an end to: 1. Ultra-cheap alcohol, beginning with a minimum price for a standard drink 2. Highly normalised and accessible alcohol, by restoring supermarkets to being alcohol free 3. All alcohol advertising and sponsorship, except objective printed product information 4. Legal drunk driving, by reducing the adult blood alcohol level to at least 0.05.

The Government appears determined to maintain the status quo - low prices, high accessibility, unrelenting advertising and drunk driving - a perfect recipe for maintaining the heavy drinking culture.

"This new Bill trivialises the work of the Law Commission's two-year review by not including the proven, substantial measures that would reduce harm from drinking", adds Professor Jennie Connor, another medical spokesperson for Alcohol Action NZ.

"The main drivers of damage from alcohol, which are price, availability, promotion and drink driving, are not being adequately addressed. The Law Commission brought together the best international scientific information about what would be effective measures to reduce our problems, but the Government is not prepared to use them", she said. "This means there are other considerations that are more important than health, welfare, and law and order. What are they?"

According to Professor Sellman, an ominous indication as to why the new Bill will be ineffective in reducing excessive drinking, is in the complete absence of the use of the words "drug" or "commercialisation" from any of the 225 pages of the new Bill, as well as its dogged focus on youth.

Two fundamental points made on the first page of the Law Commission's final report "Alcohol in our Lives: Curbing the Harm" are that alcohol is a "legalised drug" and that the heavy drinking culture is being driven by the "unbridled commercialisation of alcohol".

Further, more than 90% of heavy drinkers are 20 years and over, and 70% are 25 years and over.

"The Government appears to have its head in the sand on these crucial points", says Professor Sellman.

Alcohol Action NZ spokespeople predict this Alcohol Reform Bill will go down in history as a timid and deceptive piece of legislation, remembered more for what is absent from it than the tinkering it consists of.

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