To see a copy of ALAC’s full submission to the Law Commission on the Alcohol in Our Lives discussion document go to our website www.alac.org.nz.

BLOOD ALCOHOL CONTENT (BAC)
• Lower the legal Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) limit for driving in New Zealand from 80mg/100ml for adult drivers down to 50mg/100ml, and the under 20 year old BAC to zero for all under 20 year olds, regardless of licence status.
• Introduce infringement notices for offences between the old BAC levels and the proposed new ones.
• Introduce mandatory alcohol interlocks for drink-driving offenders, as these offenders clearly need treatment and support to overcome their drinking issues.
• Introduce a legal BAC for those in charge of pleasure craft such as yachts.
• Introduce a nationwide set of trading hours, restricting offlicence hours from 8am to 10pm, and on-licences until 2am but also allowing for community say and local variation (extensions or shortening) of the nationwide on-licence trading hours via a well-consulted local alcohol policy and if a licensee can satisfy the LLA that it has a plan to manage the risk of harm.
• Make local alcohol policies mandatory.
• Give the LLA and DLA wider powers to refuse licences and the ability to impose conditions on licences.
• Restructure licensing fees.
• Remove all existing exemptions (police, armed forces, fire fighters, Parliament) from obtaining a licence to sell alcohol.
• Introduce new legal provisions for the type of premises able to apply for off-licences.
• Retain restrictions on the types of premises able to apply for off-licences.

PRICE AND PROMOTION OF ALCOHOL
Price
• Increase the retail price of alcohol to reduce the incidence of heavy sessional drinking.
• Review the excise structure to ensure the tax burden is spread so that the more alcohol purchased, the more tax payable.
• Remove the excise tax on low-alcohol products.
• To enable further work, the lack of access to sales data (price and volume) for the purposes of policy analysis needs to be addressed.
• There may be a case to increase excise tax, but any decision about this should follow policy work to compare it with the minimum price option.
Promotions
• Off-licence alcohol marketing and retailing practices should be governed by a similar law that is in place for on-licences.
• Immediate measures should be taken to reduce the exposure to alcohol promotion of those under the minimum purchase age such as a 9.30pm watershed for broadcast advertising material, restrictions on advertising on public transport (including bus shelters) and cinemas, restrictions on price
promotions and limiting areas of supermarkets where alcohol is displayed.
• Principles and codes for the promotion of alcohol should be enshrined in law, rather than being voluntary and a breach of these should be considered a breach of licensing conditions.
• A whole-of-Government process, similar to ‘Smokefree’, should be initiated to deal with the issue of alcohol promotion.

DRINKING AGE
• Raise the minimum purchase age to 20 years.
• Make it an offence for all persons to supply alcohol to a young person under 18 without the consent of a parent or guardian of the young person.
• Make it a legal requirement for any person supplying alcohol to a young person under 18 to supervise the consumption of the alcohol.
• Make age verification for the sale of alcohol mandatory. A nationally recognised and tamper proof system of age identification would greatly assist this measure.
• ALAC does not support the introduction of a minimum legal drinking age.
• ALAC does not support a split purchase age.

DRUNKENESS IN A PUBLIC PLACE
• Do not create an offence of drinking in a public place.
• Do not reintroduce the offence of being drunk in a public place.

PACKAGING
• No change to the types of products available at off-licences.
• Provide a regulatory power to prohibit the sale of undesirable liquor products based on expert recommendations to the Minister.
• Introduce measures to limit the alcohol content of ready-to-drinks and the size of single serve containers.
• There should be mandatory labelling providing advice recommending that pregnant women should not consume any alcohol.

TREATMENT
• There needs to be effective, accessible treatment across the spectrum of care (primary health, to specialist intensive alcohol and drug services). There are clear gaps in the delivery of brief interventions in primary health settings and integrating alcohol treatments into general practice.
Therefore:
• ALAC is keen to play a more active role in monitoring and providing advice on alcohol and other drug service provision and funding
• ALAC supports the development of a comprehensive plan for alcohol treatment, to be led by the Mental Health Commission and supported by ALAC,  that will be based on a number of high priority and best practice principles including:
• Brief early interventions and alcohol treatments should be provided in primary health settings
• Family inclusive practice and well validated age and culturally appropriate services need to be increased
• Alcohol and other drug assessment and treatment should be taken into account during sentencing in cases where alcohol and other drugs may have contributed to the offending.

Sir Geoffrey Palmer making a keynote presentation at the ALAC Working Together Conference - Time for Action

“The subject of our report is a social battleground replete with both passions and prejudices. We have tried to steer a reasonable course around these policy whirlpools and fashion a report that will address the needs of the society as a whole”

Sir Geoffrey Palmer

The Law Commission Report ‘Alcohol in our Lives – Curbing the Harm’ was published at the end of April. The Law Commission held meetings and consultations all over New Zealand and received 2,939 submissions, more than any other project in the 24 year history of the Law Commission.

Launching the final report, Sir Geoffrey Palmer said “Those who enjoy alcohol socially and drink in a low risk manner will be little affected by the Law Commission’s recommendations. Our reforms are firmly targeted at reducing the harms associated with heavy drinking and drinking to intoxication. To do this we need to ensure that alcohol is promoted, sold and supplied in a manner which better reflects the risks and responsibilities associated with its consumption”.

“While the law cannot directly control how people drink, it can ensure the law governing how alcohol is promoted, sold and supplied, better recognises the risks associated with alcohol and discourages abuse. The international evidence was clear that the most effective policies to reduce alcohol-related harm were those which targeted the availability, price and promotion of alcohol.

Policies which targeted cheap alcohol were particularly important because research shows low cost alcohol is favoured by young and heavy drinkers”.

The report contains 153 recommendations to Government, intended to work together to reduce alcohol related harm.

The key elements of the recommendations are:

• a new Alcohol Harm Reduction Act to replace the Sale of Liquor Act 1989;

• increasing the price of alcohol through excise tax increases in order to reduce consumption;

• regulating promotions that encourage increased consumption or purchase of alcohol;

• moving, over time, to regulate alcohol advertising and sponsorship;

• increasing the purchase age for alcohol to 20 years;

• strengthening the responsibility of parents supplying alcohol to minors;

• increasing personal responsibility for unacceptable or harmful behaviours induced by alcohol;

• cutting back the hours licensed premises are open;

• introducing new grounds upon which licences to sell alcohol can be declined;

• allowing more local input into licensing decisions through local alcohol policies and District Licensing Committees (the bodies we are recommending replace District Licensing Agencies);

• streamlining the enforcement of alcohol laws and placing the overall decision-making in a new Alcohol Regulatory Authority (building on the existing Liquor Licensing Authority) presided over by District Court judges especially selected for the task;

and

• a substantially improved and reorganised system for the treatment of people with alcohol problems.

The report is available at www.lawcom.govt.nz

Availability and access to alcohol is a major concern and there are proven evidence-based interventions we can introduce. We support proposals to introduce a nationwide set of trading hours, restricting off-licence hours to 8am to 10pm, and on-licences until 2am. ALAC proposes allowing for community say and local variation of these nationwide opening hours via a well-consulted local alcohol policy, and where each licence applicant is able to demonstrate that they have a plan to manage the risks of any extended trading hours. The nationwide hours will target the greatest harms (weekend night-time drinking) whilst not overly restricting the freedoms of most New Zealanders wishing to drink responsibly.

ALAC strongly supports the ability for licensing decision makers to refuse a licence on wider grounds than permitted at present, such as likely detrimental social impact and inconsistency with local alcohol policy. However, we do not support the proposal to remove restrictions on the type of premises able to apply for off-licences, because the proposed widened grounds for refusing licences will not be a sufficient safety net to control alcohol availability and the proliferation of alcohol outlets.

Driver alcohol and drug impairment is inflicting a very high and concerning cost on our society. Any initiative to reduce alcohol-related road crashes will also reduce the incidence of other alcohol harms. We strongly believe the legal blood alcohol content limit for drinking should be lowered to 50mg/100ml, and the under 20-year old limit lowered to zero, regardless of licence status.

Youth binge drinking is a characteristic of New Zealand’s alcohol environment. We know that about one-third of youth drinkers binge drink with negative impacts on themselves and society, such as alcohol-related offending, injuries and road crashes. As our young people will define New Zealand’s future drinking culture, they deserve the support and assistance of adults, whānau, communities and importantly our legislative system. ALAC maintains its historic position that the minimum purchase age should be 20 years. ALAC supports the requirement for parental consent for the supply of alcohol to a young person under the age of 18 years, and we recommend that it be an offence for any person to supply alcohol to a young person without the consent of a parent or guardian.

Early intervention in primary health is an identified gap in the current provision of health treatment and support for those New Zealanders with drinking problems. ALAC is keen to play a more active role and we believe that a comprehensive plan for alcohol treatment is needed.

The supporting management structures and tools available to those working in the alcohol sector are important to improve. ALAC recommends making the primary object of any new legislation the reduction of alcohol-related harm, which will provide guidance to agencies and authorities working in the sector. We believe that the licensing and enforcement system should: enable the proactive enforcement of the law and effective functioning of licensing bodies; further the object of the Act; provide flexibility to respond to changing needs and new technologies; ensure that licences can be revoked where fundamental breaches are shown, and; ensure community say in licensing decisions. Enforcement offences and tools should seek to balance harm reduction with the rights and freedoms of responsible New Zealanders.

Although the evidence base is increasingly clear about the adverse impacts of alcohol promotion, it is unclear how best to deal with the issue, while avoiding perverse results or unreasonably impacting on New Zealand’s economy. Given this complexity, ALAC recommends as a priority, that a whole of government process, similar to ‘Smokefree’, be initiated to deal with alcohol promotion. Measures should be undertaken to reduce the exposure of those under 18 years of age to alcohol advertising. There is a case to increase the retail price of alcohol to reduce the incidence of heavy sessional drinking. We support a minimum retail price policy in theory, but recommend further research and policy work to determine the magnitude and impact this would have. ALAC also recommends a legislative requirement that off-licence alcohol marketing and retailing practices are socially responsible, similar to that which already exists for on-licence practices.

Overall, ALAC believes that this opportunity to fundamentally review the sale of liquor legislation in New Zealand is our one opportunity in this decade to make real change and reduce alcohol harm. As such we should not be afraid to ensure we are sending the right messages and providing the needed support to those working to reduce alcohol harm. We need to provide a safe drinking culture for our youth and our future.

ALAC’s full submission is available at http://www.alac.org.nz/InpowerFiles/v1_ACTIVE-SubmissionforWeb-WorkSiteAcrobatIntegration.pdf.

ALAC congratulates the LLA, for what seems to be a changing attitude towards the issuing of licences and dealing with enforcement applications, in light of the heightened public conversation regarding alcohol related harm and liquor abuse issues across New Zealand.

One such decision to receive praise from public health and enforcement agencies was the refusal to grant a full off-licence to The Warehouse in Albany. Dr Andrew Hearn from ALAC provided a submission to the LLA and contended that, “opening the market for spirits and RTDs to large retail chains would result in further discounting and increased harm to young people.”  In its decision, the Authority recognised that two department stores with complementary style off-licences may not technically qualify for the licences, and may need to have those licences reviewed. The Authority also heard from the Police, the Hospitality Association, the District Licensing Agency and the Medical Officer of Health.  All opposed the issuing of the licence.

Another decision to make headlines was the Creek Liquor Store, in Cannons Creek, Porirua East. This application raised a high level of discontent among a range of social service agencies and community members, regarding the lack of community say in licensing decisions. This community mobilised, opposing the liquor licence, and gathering much public support along the way. In the hearing, the Authority heard from the Medical Officer of Health for the region who sought to establish that such a community, with a poor level of health, would be adversely affected by the increased availability of alcohol.  This, coupled with a number of other objectors, representing the Porirua Alcohol and Drug Cluster, health workers, church leaders and schools (to name a few) provided added weight to the Authorities decision. In his decision, Judge Unwin stated, “the evidence given by Dr Palmer and the objectors was excellently presented and quite overwhelming. Its combined force persuaded us that if this particular application were to be granted, an increase in liquor abuse and alcohol related harm in this community would be likely.”  The application was refused by the Authority.
 
Over 100 community members march to the Porirua District Court to hear the “Creek Liquor Store” application, chanting “No  more liquor stores”.

Henry’s Beer, Wine and Spirits Hallswell (PH 1789/2008) also found the public objecting to their application for an off-licence in Christchurch. Two residents appeared in support of their objections to the issue of the licence, and provided a petition with over 800 signatures along with their submissions.  The Authority granted the licence with less trading hours than originally sought, but made the following comments in its decision. “We believe that the retail initiative known as loss leading needs to be looked at more seriously by licensees. If a licensee uses liquor to loss lead, then he or she is stimulating, and not meeting demand. Where liquor is involved, it is not good enough for a licensee to say that they have to continue with this business practice because of competition. Most licensees understand that they are dealing with a drug, and that they have a duty under the [Sale of Liquor] Act to help them promote the reduction of liquor abuse. In our experience loss leading helps to promote the abuse of liquor.”  The Authority goes on to say, “in future, examples of loss leading by an off-licensee will be treated as an indication of lack of suitability.”

Other notable LLA Decisions, include the introduction of new minimum food standards (Empire Hotel decision, PH 1652/2008). The proposed guidelines are to apply to all premises, apart from restaurants and off-licences, from mid-2009. They state:

• The range of food must be readily available at all times that the premises are open
• Menus must be highly visible and food should be actively promoted using a variety of mediums, e.g menus on the tables, a board, or food on display
• Food should also be advertised in any outdoor areas
• Bar staff are expected to actively promote the range of food options
• A minimum of three types of food should be available. e.g paninis, pizzas, lasagne, pies, toasted or fresh sandwiches, wedges, filled rolls, and/or salads.  (This does not mean three types of pie.)
• It is acceptable to have a menu from neighbouring premises to provide for one or two of these options. However, there must be a back up option that could be produced on site.
• A minimum standard to be accepted on site would be a microwave or fryer and utensils, and a supply of a variety of ‘long life’ meals that do not require temperature control, or tins of soup and rolls.  There should be an area for preparation of food and utensils for service of the food.

An interesting case in Auckland City (PH 130-133/2009) helped confirm that the Act prohibits selling full bottles of spirits for consumption on licensed premises (s154(a) of the Act), and s.169(1) prohibits the sale of spirits in otherwise than a vessel of less than 500ml. In this case, the karaoke bar concerned was found to be selling one-litre jugs that contained tea with 200ml of whisky. It was also observed by the officers that there were “vomit basins” available for customers within the premises.  One in the hall, and one in the ladies toilet. The licensee argued that such “vomit basins” were decorative and they were needed, to retain the company’s status as a five-star karaoke business.

Finally, the Authority has cancelled the licence for Te Awamutu Wines and Spirits, making the following comments.  “In our view, the four sales to minors in the past two years call for severe consequences.  Accordingly, we intend to cancel the licence.”

On 24-26th March 2009 it was the turn of the Western Pacific Region. Representatives from 28 countries in the Western Pacific Region gathered in Auckland for one of the meetings to workshop strategies to reduce harmful use of alcohol, aided by a “discussion paper for regional technical consultations”. Dr Vladimir Poznyak, Coordinator of Management of Substance Abuse, attended from the WHO headquarters in Geneva, as did Dr Wang Xiangdong, the Western Pacific Regional Advisor in Mental Health and Control of Substance Abuse. Hon Peter Dunne, Associate Minister of Health, opened the meeting with an address.

The meeting was chaired by Dr Ashley Bloomfield, Chief Advisor Public Health (Ministry of Health). Dr Bloomfield noted that “the countries represented at the meeting could not have been more diverse – from populous Asian countries like China, to islands of the Pacific, some with small populations such as Nuie and Tokelau. Yet all the countries had issues around the harmful use of alcohol and recognised the need for a range of policies and interventions.”

The countries represented had diverse alcohol markets, with different mixes of commercial alcohol production, imports and homebrew. The purpose of WHO’s consultation process is to draw out the range of policy options and tools, and seek guidance from member states as to which policies a global strategy should encourage, how to account for diversity, and what practical steps need to be taken to help countries implement the strategy.

Alcohol is a development issue. As explained by Dr Poznyak, “alcohol consumption tends to rise as developing countries become more affluent. It is important that alcohol policy responses are developed alongside economic development. This is something that particularly affects countries with limited resources, such as the Pacific Islands.” 

A global alcohol strategy will support international, regional and national-level action on alcohol issues by being an authoritative document that officials and advocates can reference when engaging with decision-makers in their own countries.

The next stage in the development of the global alcohol strategy is that a document will be released in July 2009 for further consultation. It is expected that the strategy will be adopted by the World Health Assembly in May 2010.

The global alcohol strategy will complement regional strategies. Many readers will be aware of the Western-Pacific Regional Strategy to Reduce Alcohol-Related Harm, and the draft regional plan of action.

As for the Auckland talks, by all accounts these were a success, with the WHO delegates leaving with the information they wanted, Auckland putting on sunny mild weather, and participants also enjoying a couple of evening social occasions hosted by the Ministry of Health, ALAC and the NZ Drug Foundation.  We look forward to the global alcohol strategy coming to fruition.

New Zealand was represented by Chris Laurenson, Team Leader, National Drug Policy, Ministry of Health, and Gerard Vaughan, CEO of ALAC. The meetings were chaired by Dr Ashley Bloomfield, Chief Advisor Public Health (Ministry of Health). Also participating as an advisor to WHO was Prof Sally Casswell (SHORE).

For more about the global alcohol strategy:
http://www.who.int/substance_abuse/en/
Hon Peter Dunne’s address:
http://www.beehive.govt.nz/speech/address+open+world+health+organisation+western+pacific+region+technical+meeting

For both sexes, two standard drinks a day over a lifetime is the limit to keep that risk below a one-in-100 chance of dying as a result of drinking.
The guidelines include a new four-drink guideline for drinking on a single occasion, like going to the pub, having a drink with friends or having drinks at home. (A single occasion is defined in the guidelines as a sequence of drinks taken without blood alcohol concentration reaching zero in between).  For healthy men and women, drinking no more than four standard drinks on a single occasion reduces the risk of alcohol related injury arising from that occasion.

Professor Jon Currie, Chair of NHMRC’s Expert Working Committee on Alcohol Guidelines said “The guidelines aren’t telling you what you can or can’t do. They aim to help Australians make their own informed choices about alcohol and how much risk they want to take with their health. Two standard drinks a day keeps your risk below 1 chance in 100 of dying as a result of drinking. This is slightly less than your risk of dying in a car accident one day.”

“The new guidelines are based on the risk over a lifetime, and provide advice on lowering your risk from alcohol-related harm, but ultimately it’s your choice.”

The Council expressed concerns about youth binge drinking, stating there is no safe level of alcohol consumption for people under 18, and warning parents against giving older children small amounts of alcohol.  The earlier draft said 15 to17-year-olds could consume some alcohol under parental supervision.

The new guidelines also advise women who are pregnant, planning a pregnancy or breastfeeding not to drink.
One standard drink is the equivalent to one 330ml can of mid-strength (four percent alcohol) beer or 100ml of wine or 30ml of spirits.
Under the old 2001 Australian guidelines, men could have up to four drinks a day before being considered to be drinking at a risky level.
The guidelines released in early March have been altered since a draft was released in October 2007 draft stating that two drinks a day constituted an immediate health risk with critics saying they were socially unacceptable and alarmist.
Prof Currie was reported in the Australian press as saying he expected the new guidelines would set the standard internationally, as they were the first to include information on the lifetime risks associated with alcohol consumption.

“We think it will probably really become the standard way guidelines are done in the future for other countries,” he said.
Commenting on the Australian guidelines, ALAC Chief Executive Officer Gerard Vaughan said ALAC’s levels for responsible drinking recommend no more than six drinks for men and four for women on a single occasion and over a week no more than 21 for men and 14 for women, plus at least two alcohol-free days a week.

“These levels are only general guidelines,” he said. “Some people should not drink at all, for example, those with certain medical conditions, on medication or those with a dependence problem. ALAC advises pregnant women or those attempting to get pregnant to avoid all alcohol.  It is good to see the new Australia guidelines now give the same advice.”

“Our advice is focused on limiting binge drinking, that is going out and getting drunk, which is the most hazardous drinking pattern in this country. This focus differs from the new Australian guidelines which focus on low risk drinking over a life time.”
Mr Vaughan said ALAC would look at the Australian evidence and consider whether low risk drinking guidelines over a lifetime should be developed for New Zealand. 

Mr Vaughan also said it was timely to consider within its current advice on young peoples’ drinking whether to include an age below which young people should not drink.

Mr Vaughan said ALAC’s advice to parents was they should try to delay their children starting to drink alcohol for as long as possible. 
“We now have this Australian research saying teenagers under 18 should not drink,” he said. “This follows the release of a consultation document earlier in the year from the United Kingdom warning that children under 15-years-old should never be given alcohol – even in small amounts.
“Locally we have research from the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study at the University of Otago that found young people using alcohol or other drugs before the age of 15 more than doubles the risk of damaging their health into adulthood.”

Mr Vaughan said it was timely to ask the question of whether a set age should be part of ALAC’s advice on teenage drinking.
The Australian Guidelines can be found at www.nhmrc.gov.au

A comprehensive review of the sale and supply of liquor was announced in August 2008. The review is being conducted by the Law Commission. President of the Law Commission, Rt Hon Sir Geoffrey Palmer is overseeing the process. Sir Geoffrey says, “the Law Commission will conduct this review with vigour and energy.”

The Law Commission has been putting together a team to concentrate on the review, with representatives from the Ministry of Justice, the NZ Police, and the Alcohol Advisory Council (ALAC). Helen Fielding, Principal Policy Advisor, has been seconded from ALAC to the Law Commission to work on the review, and Andrew Hearn, Manager Strategy and Research, is a member of the review steering group.

The terms of reference for the review are very broad. The review is examining and evaluating the current laws and policies relating to the sale, supply and consumption of liquor in New Zealand. It will consider and formulate a revised policy framework covering the principles that should regulate the sale, supply and consumption of liquor in New Zealand, taking into account present and future social conditions and needs.

The review process has begun, with review team members meeting with Government Agency Chief Executives, researchers and lobbyists. Review team members have also spent time with police officers observing what life is like out on the streets and how alcohol impacts on their workloads. Alcohol is not the sole responsibility of any one government agency, and there are many agencies, organisations and individuals with a view about how alcohol harm could be better prevented in New Zealand. For this reason, there will be widespread consultation throughout the review process. It is expected there will be vigorous debate, because alcohol is something almost everyone has a stake in.

The challenge for the review team is to ensure that alcohol-related harm is well understood and that policy recommendations are soundly based in robust evidence. The review team will investigate consumption levels and trends, health and other social effects of alcohol consumption, and examine what is known about the drinking habits of New Zealanders.

Article from alcohol.org.nz December 2008 Issue.  Click HERE to see the whole December 2008 Issue.