700,000 drinkers 'in need of help'

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At least 700,000 problem drinkers need help, medical leaders say in "a historic and unprecedented" push to change alcohol laws.

The letter, signed by more than 300 leading New Zealand doctors and nurses, comes as the Law Commission begins considering the 3000-plus submissions into its public discussion document, Alcohol in Our Lives.

The review of New Zealand's liquor laws is being headed by Law Commission president Sir Geoffrey Palmer, who will make recommendations to the Government in April.

National Addiction Centre director Doug Sellman said the statement was "a historic stand" by doctors and nurses. "It is very unusual, it's very hard to get doctors politicised."

The joint statement accuses the liquor industry of using the same tactics as the tobacco industry to prevent effective regulation and maintain sales despite "enormous personal and social damage".

"Alcohol is a potentially dangerous and addictive recreational substance," the letter says. Alcohol causes more than 1000 deaths a year – half of those are due to chronic alcohol-related diseases, especially cancer, and half due to injuries.

"Of critical importance is the fact that these injuries are disproportionately amongst young people," the letter says.

At least 25 per cent or 700,000 New Zealand drinkers 16 years old and over show a sustained pattern of problem drinking and could benefit from intervention, the letter says.

"A visit to any Emergency Department on a Thursday, Friday or Saturday night, a stroll downtown in most cities in New Zealand after dark during weekends or a visit to a Women's Refuge or addictions clinic will astound many people."

Sellman said the liquor industry conceded there was a national alcohol crisis as "the evidence is so overwhelming" but tried to "discredit the solutions that we know work".

Half the profits made by the industry came from "heavy, dangerous drinking", said Sellman, a Christchurch-based medic who has been touring the country for three months campaigning for tougher alcohol regulation.

Alcohol was an "aggressogenic drug", capable of making normal people more aggressive after as few as three drinks.

"It used to be thought this drug was bad for people that have personalities that are normally violent or angry in the first place.

Now there is evidence that it causes aggression in normal people." Alcohol was a factor in 70,000 physical and sexual assaults a year.

"As a society we think this is normal. We've been numbed to it." Hospitality Association (Hanz) chief executive Bruce Robertson said the industry agreed there was a problem with binge drinking, but solutions offered by the health professionals would not address it.

"They are simply going to impact on the majority of New Zealanders who are responsible consumers of alcohol without addressing the major problem."

Law changes Hanz proposed would have more impact, including making it an offence to be intoxicated in a public place and banning the advertisement of the price of alcohol products.

Alcohol Advisory Council chief executive Gerard Vaughan said it welcomed medical leaders "lending their voice to the issue of alcohol harm and measures to change the law around the alcohol environment that we have".

- © Fairfax NZ News