DHB wants tighter limits on alcohol

AUCKLAND: Hiking the price of liquor and the legal purchase age is crucial to combating the growing burden of alcoholrelated health conditions.

That is according to the Waitemata District Health Board which has joined other health boards in endorsing a position on alcohol harm.

It is calling for restrictions on the availability of alcohol, an increase in the minimum legal purchase age and higher prices.

Health officials also want a reduction of alcohol advertising, promotion and sponsorship, along with drinkdriving countermeasures.

Nearly one in six adults aged 15 years and over drinks hazardously within Waitemata DHB’s boundary. For Maori it is higher (28%) compared with nonMaori (20%).

‘‘Hazardous and harmful alcohol use is identified as a major contributor to inequities and is amenable to healthy public policy,’’ the DHB said in its statement.

Alcohol was not an ordinary commodity, it was an intoxicant, toxin and addictive psychotropic drug, it said.

The stance adds to growing calls by DHBs to address the environment people live in, in order to improve their health.

The Waitemata DHB pointed to research showing hazardous alcohol use contributed to large physical and mental illhealth, social and economic burdens in New Zealand and globally, with impacts extending across sectors.

‘‘In New Zealand, inequitable outcomes are apparent with men, Maori, young people and those living in more socioeconomically deprived areas at higher risk of alcoholrelated harm.’’

Earlier this year, The New Zealand Herald reported that hazardous drinking rates jumped during the Covid19 lockdown last year.

Ministry of Health emergency department attendances data showed in May 2020 there were 200 more visits compared with the year earlier, and roughly 400 more visits in both June and July.

‘‘Twenty percent of New Zealanders increased their consumption at [Alert] Level 4 lockdown.

‘‘At Level 1 that reduced to about 14%,’’ Alcohol Healthwatch executive director Dr Nicki Jackson said in January.

According to the ministry, alcoholrelated attendances are recorded by DHBs using a system called the ‘‘Alcohol Red Flag’’.

The Australasian College for Emergency Medicine (ACEM) president, John Bonning, told the Herald in January the total ED visits in New Zealand were roughly more than a million per annum.

But the impact of alcohol on EDs might not be measured as accurately as possible because staff were often busy with other tasks.

Dr Jackson said while those under the age of 24 years were drinking less, there was ‘‘a phenomenal’’ increase in drinking among older generations.

However, it was still young people who found themselves visiting EDs for alcoholrelated issues, Dr Bonning said. — The New Zealand Herald