Analysis: Alcohol is New Zealand's most harmful drug.
A study by Otago University, published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology, used 17 different harm criteria to assess the impact of different drugs on New Zealanders. The study considered harm to the individual as well as society at large, and in the end the results weren't even close.
Top of the pops, a full 17% ahead of second place, wasn't methamphetamine or opiates or tobacco, but good old-fashioned, buy-it-at-the-supermarket booze.
The news will come as little surprise to the Government, in which ministers across a range of portfolios regularly contend with the impacts of alcohol harm.
Alcohol contributes to thousands of cancer diagnoses every year. It's a major factor — if not the major factor — in New Zealand's shameful domestic violence statistics. A quarter of suicides in this country involve acute alcohol use. According to advocacy groups, alcohol is a factor in more than half of sexual assaults, a third of violent crimes, and half of all murders. Half of children in the care of Oranga Tamariki are believed to have Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder.
By some estimates alcohol harm in New Zealand costs roughly $8 billion a year, a figure which vastly exceeds the excise tax revenue brought in by alcohol sales.
Given the scale of the damage, you'd think reducing alcohol harm would be an absolute priority for any government. But you'd be wrong. Successive governments have deferred substantive action on booze laws in New Zealand. They've ignored expert advice and the conclusions of their own reviews.
There are only two major reasons. The first is that politicians routinely prioritise the interests of the alcohol industry over the interests of public health.
The second is that politicians fear a political backlash. Given 80% of New Zealand adults consume alcohol, they’re concerned that efforts to change alcohol laws will see them labelled as overbearing or 'nanny-state'.
This Government is little different. Having waited five years to do anything at all, late last year the Labour government introduced changes to licensing laws, meaning local communities should theoretically have more say on where alcohol can be sold. But a majority of Labour MPs voted against Chlöe Swarbrick's private member's bill, which would have gone further by restricting alcohol advertising in sport.
Greater restrictions on alcohol advertising are perhaps the lowest-hanging fruit of any potential alcohol reform. We're all bombarded by billboards, TV ads, digital advertising, and sponsorship logos. Otago University research suggests New Zealand children are exposed to alcohol advertisements daily. Experts say one of the most effective and efficient ways to reduce alcohol harm would be introduce greater restrictions on advertising. Advertising normalises consumption, whoich in turn normalises harm.
Given the scale of the damage caused by alcohol, there are few public policy issues more worthy of our politicians' attention.
But upon becoming prime minister, one of Chris Hipkins' first actions was to indefinitely suspend work on alcohol advertising reform.
Alcohol might cause more harm than any other drug in New Zealand but as far as the Government is concerned, it still isn't a priority.
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