Ever heard of responsible drinking?
The alcohol industry has and plays a significant role in developing and promoting public health policies around responsible drinking and hosting.
Every council, public health agency and alcohol-related organisation has plenty of prominent guidelines on how to drink alcohol responsibly. Well-meaning advice about the importance of not drinking too much is absolutely everywhere – even on some alcohol labels.
So really, there’s no excuse for drinking too much. There’s no excuse for getting drunk again and again and causing harm to yourself and others.
However, we all know that the abuse of alcohol is endemic.
Professionals surrounding the alcohol industry – those promoting it and those dealing with addiction – know there will always be some people who drink responsibly. They will not drive intoxicated and don’t want to harm their health or anyone else through their drinking. They take it easy and enjoy drinking in moderation.
The alcohol industry is also aware that no matter how many host responsibility policies and public health campaigns are in place, a certain sector of the drinking population will always drink too much. Why? For some, it’s because they want to. They enjoy drinking too much and usually, can mitigate or manage the side effects of their habit. They might be running an addiction but it’s easy to hide it and even celebrate it in a culture that says heavy drinking is perfectly normal.
Then there are the people who clearly can’t manage their use of alcohol. They drink too much, all of the time. They drink and drive. They use violence. They break laws. They can’t hold down jobs. Their health and relationships are severely affected. We call them alcoholics. The alcohol industry however, just tells them they need to be more responsible.
So the question remains, if the alcohol industry is perfectly aware of how many people will drink irresponsibly (one in four adults in this country drink hazardously) then why aren’t they doing anything more to mitigate this risk?
Is it acceptable that 1 in five car crashes are alcohol-related, that 2 in 5 offences that involve assault, abduction, robbery, threats or damage to property are linked to drinking and that 1 in 3 family violence incidents are known to involve alcohol?
The list of negative effects of alcohol is long, grim and incredibly well supported by high-quality research. And yet despite health authorities dishing out the latest and greatest health advice, as a society we are still drinking ourselves into trouble.
Big Alcohol
Alcohol Healthwatch, a charitable organisation of professionals dedicated to reducing and preventing alcohol-related harm in New Zealand, says the alcohol industry has “a large influence on national and local alcohol decisions in New Zealand.”
The organisation points out that the production and sale of alcohol is a multi-billion dollar industry in this country. Ironically, Alcohol Healthwatch is contracted by the Ministry of Health to provide health promotion services around alcohol.
The government is no stranger to ignoring its own advice when it comes to limiting alcohol harm. Just recently, University of Otago vice-chancellor Harlene Hayne accused the government of abdicating their responsibility to curtail harm inflicted by the alcohol industry and Doug Sellman, professor of psychiatry and addiction medicine at the same university, had similar criticisms.
Its messaging is loud and clear: drink responsibly and we can all have a good time.
It’s not a stretch to allege that Big Alcohol is running the show. With literally billions of dollars at stake, the industry doesn’t take kindly to being regulated and always comes out fighting strongly against any attempts for it to take more responsibility, whether opposing an objection to a liquor licence being granted in a small community, or when larger legal challenges are laid at its feet. Its messaging is loud and clear: drink responsibly and we can all have a good time.
As a qualified addiction professional of 16 years experience, I would like to point out that drinking responsibly is impossible for a huge amount of people because alcohol is a drug. Many other drugs are deemed to be too dangerous for people to use because the harmful effects are prohibitive for individuals and society. Because of these factors, authorities have made these drugs illegal to protect us.
So why are similarly stringent measures not taken with alcohol? It’s obviously impossible and not even desirable to ban alcohol with it being such a culturally entrenched substance (and past attempts at prohibition have clearly not worked) but surely the government must be able to implement some protections to its citizens against a drug that unequivocally devastates the lives and health of hundreds of thousands of people in our society?
I want to be very clear here. I‘m not the fun police. I have no interest in what people drink, where they drink or even how much they drink. What does irk me are those who benefit from the widespread availability, affordability and tolerant attitudes towards alcohol consumption who conveniently shift the blame entirely away from the substance. They will claim they too want reduced alcohol-related societal and health costs but will not bear any of the limitations that taking meaningful steps towards this end would entail.
In my opinion, a government needs to show leadership on the issue and one place ours could start would be to take on any of the myriad recommendations from health professionals, such as this one from the NZ Medical Association, or even just to listen heed its own guidelines.
“There is no amount of alcohol that is considered safe and drinking any alcohol can be potentially harmful,” is what the Ministry of Health says.
As a new Labour Government takes power, I hope that it can deliver on its promises to put people first.
A good beginning has been achieved with it establishing an independent Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission as part of its response to He Ara Oranga: Report of the Government Inquiry into Mental Health and Addiction.
But with many reports and recommendations already ignored by virtually every government so far, Labour will need to take the most important step of all: to stand up to the alcohol industry. It needs to continue taking the brave steps needed to address the monumental issues at play with alcohol, mental health problems and addiction in this country.
Kia kaha, Jacinda and may luck be on your side: you’re going to need it.