Dan B #37 Mostly i agree with your point. Make it an offense to be drunk in public, and have the courts need to stop viewing intoxication as an excuse to hand down wet bus ticket penalties, and make the drunks pay for wasting valuable health service time.

However i think it is the loud mouthed minority who is you overwhelming public support, government knows this and views the actions proposed as political suicide.

I don't have a problem with beer and wine being sold off licence. IT is the pre mixed lolly water that is the cause of the problems we see, sort that out and the problem will go away

Mandatory fine and they have to pay the medical costs, their choice to get so drunk, simple really, who's getting the backhander for not implementing stronger measures.

That is the most pertinent question, Christopher #14, why is being drunk in public not an offence!?!

Between this, reducing the drinking age and allowing supermarkets to sell this drug, parliament has just encouraged this situation. There is so much public support for a clamp down on alcohol that the only logical explanation for parliament ignoring this is that there must be big money and back door deals going on to keep the status-quo.

Pretty typical behaviour of drug dealers greasing the legal wheels to protect their patch, isn't it

Why are the bars letting people get that drunk in the first place? If they see a person becoming intoxicated, they should be allowed to refuse them service?

@ jessica 33. There is no cost for being treated in A+E.

This is a bandaid over a wound that will never be healed. Why not address the problem which is how people are drinking rather than treating the fall out from it

it would be great if we could make the drunken idiots pay for the use of this service but has anyone thought off this - Those same idiots are dumb enough to avoid going to the triage centre when they really need to, just to avoid the costs. You'll even have people who are on deaths door, not being taken there by friends who want to avoid the bill too.

The ads on telly aren't working. Get on the offensive. Raise the drinking age and tax alcohol into oblivion.

why dont they tattoo them every time they have to go there? then you its a mark of shame for wasting tax payers money and time or medical staff,

are u serious? wellington (and new zealand) has an OBVIOUS culture of binge drinking / underage drinking / violence and little slappers running around with no clothes on.

Why not do something to try and address this issue, or at least make it harder for them to drink as much close all bars earlier, raise the drinking age etc etc.. instead of putting in an onsite hospital,

"dont worry if you drink to much, or get into a fight we have put a hospital right outside for you!"

Making it _more_ expensive to drink at a bar will just encourage people to preload more at home. If anything, it should be significantly cheaper.