Public speak out against alcohol

BY GRANT MILLER

The smoke-free approach to changing public attitudes should be applied to New Zealand's drinking culture.

That was the main message to come out of a public meeting in Palmerston North last night about liquor laws.

Many people who attended the meeting wanted to see public drunkenness stubbed out.

Law Commission president Sir Geoffrey Palmer, who led the forum, challenged his audience to come up with answers.

"How do you change a culture?

"How do you convince young people, and older people, that it's not cool to get drunk?"

One woman wanted to close down every pub in New Zealand.

She described alcohol as a deadly influence from the pit of hell.

At the other end of the spectrum, Colleen Maxwell, who runs a hotel in Palmerston North, said putting up prices "won't make a difference".

"I personally feel we should go with the flow," she said.

One man said young people drank spirits and their bodies could not take it. Bringing down the legal purchasing age to 18 was a disgrace, he said.

Sir Geoffrey said law and order problems had become far worse since the purchasing age was lowered.

He also said international research showed the biggest deterrent to drinking alcohol was price.

Palmerston North resident John Bent defended ready-to-drink mixes because the amount of alcohol in them was at least consistent.

Street Van co-ordinator Lew Findlay, who runs a service designed to get vulnerable young people off the streets, said it was easy to go from a can of soft drink to an RTD.

"It tastes just the same," he said.

"Back when I drank, I had a glass of beer and it tasted disgusting."

Palmerston North city councillor Peter Wheeler said New Zealanders had trouble accepting there was a problem.

The best way to reduce youth drinking was to make it less affordable, he said.

"Being drunk should be a crime."

Massey University Students' Association events manager Daniel Burt, 22, said the student culture and drinking culture were "heavily aligned".

Many students had just moved out of home and had easy access to alcohol.

However, he felt the drinking culture was changing.

Massey University Manawatu campus regional registrar Sandi Shillington said two Massey halls of residence would be alcohol-free next year.

Hospitality Association regional manager Chris Hince suggested a ban on price advertising. He said people who bought bread at his local Pak 'N Save supermarket were forced to go through the alcohol section.

The commission's final report to the Government is due in March.

AA 'SAVES THE LIFE' OF FORMER BINGE DRINKER

Margaret Barlow had her first drink of alcohol when she was nine.

She sneaked it out of her mother's cupboard.

"My mother was a party girl," she said.

Ms Barlow became a binge drinker, but stopped when she had children.

In her late 20s, she used alcohol as an escape from reality and became dependent on it.

She developed a "split personality".

Alcohol ruined two marriages.

Her partners were violent, she said.

However, Ms Barlow "got sick of being sick".

"I didn't want to die an alcoholic. I wanted to live," she said.

She has been a member of Alcoholics Anonymous for 18 years.

"It saved my life," she said.

Ms Barlow said she "made peace with God" through AA.

She had "one or two relapses", but had spent "a great deal of time" sober, she said.

Her son was an alcoholic, she said.

Ms Barlow said liquor laws should be tightened up, but adults needed to be better role models for young people.

- © Fairfax NZ News