Alcoholic novelties at risk of ban

Vodka and caffeine in a tube. Photo / Supplied

Justice Minister lists the kind of liquor products he wants to target

Alcohol Nasal spray, vodka mouth wash, alcoholic chocolate milk and vodka toothpaste - these are the types of products the Government would ban under its package to reform the liquor laws.

Justice Minister Simon Power yesterday outlined the kinds of products he considered "particularly dangerous to health or attractive to minors" that he would ban, in a speech to the Alcohol Healthwatch Alcohol Law Reform Forum in Auckland.

Earlier in the year, the Government released its plan for liquor law reforms, including a provision to allow the Justice Minister, in consultation with the Health Minister, to ban products they considered dangerous.

But Mr Power had not revealed what kinds of products that would be until yesterday. They include:

* Moo Joose: An alcoholic milk product that comes in strawberry, banana and chocolate flavours and is 5.3 per cent alcohol.

* Go Wodka: Sold in a toothpaste tube. Its ingredients include vodka and caffeine and its alcohol content is 10.5 per cent.

* Zulu 42: Vodka and lemon zest spray with an alcohol content of 18 per cent.

* AWOL (Alcohol without liquid): Created in a machine that mixes a shot of alcoholic spirit with oxygen. It is inhaled through the mouth or nose in a cloudy vapour. The alcohol content depends on the type of shot.

These products have been banned in one or more Australian states.

While it is not known if they are available in NZ, it is understood they could enter the market without much difficulty because of the Closer Economic Relations free trade agreement between New Zealand and Australia.

A spokesman for Mr Power said the ban was not expected to extend to genuine health products that have alcohol in them, such as cough syrup.

The banning of products would be reactive, not proactive, and would probably happen after a complaint about a product was raised.

Legislation to enact the Government's planned reforms are to be tabled in Parliament next week.

"The Alcohol Reform Bill should be seen as Parliament's starting point for alcohol reform," Mr Power told the forum.

He called alcohol a "lubricant for crime". It is implicated in 30 per cent of all police recorded offences, 34 per cent of recorded family violence, and 50 per cent of all homicides.

"But I recognise that alcohol's tentacles reach further than that. It impacts on our workplace productivity, our injury rate, our road toll, and our general health.

"The direct cost to Government of alcohol-related harm has been put as high as $1.2 billion a year."

Among other measures in the Government's package are a split alcohol purchase age (18 for bars, 20 for liquor outlets), empowering communities to set their own restrictions on opening hours and the number and location of liquor outlets, and making it illegal to supply alcohol to minors without parental consent.