Hidden horror of holiday season

Police statistics from the last two years show a rise in drug offences and 'anti-social' offences during December. File photo / NZ Herald

Amidst the joy, celebration and festivities of Christmas and the New Year period lies the hidden horror of the holiday season.

While so many of us take this time to indulge in food, drink and general revelry, others suffer as as the rates of domestic violence, alcohol abuse and road fatalities increase.

Police statistics from the last two years show a rise in drug offences and "anti-social" offences during December, which accounts for close-to 10 per cent of offences annually.

Director of the National Addiction Centre, Doug Sellman, said the misuse of alcohol spikes during the the end-of-year holidays, with many using the time of year to justify their drinking.

"Alcohol is used as a social celebrant," he said. "For some people they use any excuse to drink alcohol and there's nothing better than the Christmas and New Year holiday. These are good times for them to 'legitimately' use more of the drug."

But he said the increased publicity around alcohol this year will do nothing to make punters think twice about drinking too much.

"Official campaigns and education are very ineffective in changing people's behaviour and we've got 700,000 heavy drinkers in New Zealand and they're largely immune to that sort of publicity," he said.

While he applauded measures from Ellerslie Racecourse which aim to curb excessive drinking during the post-Christmas races, he said it was not enough to implement these moves only one day of the year.

As well as causing physical harm to those binge drinking, Dr Sellman believes it can lead to an increase in criminal behaviour.

"Alcohol drives more assault and more violence because of the [aggression-causing] nature of the drug."

Women's Refuge confirmed that domestic violence rose during the Christmas period but unlike Dr Sellman, denied that alcohol was the root of the problem.

"We know it's a factor and it makes it worse, but it's not the cause. Domestic violence is about power and control," said Women's Refuge spokeswoman Kiri Hannifin.

"There are times of the year or certain situations which exacerbate the situation - the financial situation, alcohol or stress can be a factor. A lot of those things come into play at Christmas."

Ms Hannifin said domestic violence ruined Christmas for children.

"It's particularly [hard] at this time of year for children who probably deserve a day or two when they can just be kids rather than kids who watch their parents hurt each other."

As well as horror within homes over holidays, Superintendent Paula Rose said Christmas and the New Year takes its toll on New Zealand's roads.

Last year there were 12 fatal crashes resulting in 13 deaths between the 24th December and the 5th of January.

The year before it was even worse, with 25 deaths across the holiday season.

Although the current road toll this year was slightly down on last year, Superintendent Rose said it was always a bad year if lives were lost.

"Any year where you have deaths and injuries has to be a bad year, because how do you say after you've got people dead - even if it's a lower number than last year - that it was a good year."

She said police were focusing their efforts around alcohol on trying to reduce road deaths over the break.

"Alcohol goes hand in hand with socialising and celebration and unfortunately some people make some pretty bad choices around drinking and driving," she said.

While the police will do their best, she said it is up to all New Zealanders to make sure our roads are safe.

"What people don't often reflect on is the fact that at the end of these holidays, the one thing that we can be sure of is that there will be some people who don't go back to school or work, because they've either been hurt of killed.

"That's the social cost - the parents without a child, the child without the parent, the friend, the brother, the person at your workplace, the empty seat at Christmas next year."