Gay Keating: Binge-drinking is deeply ingrained

COMMENT

A recent news website reported that the winner of a vodka-drinking contest in Russia died of alcohol poisoning within minutes of winning this prestigious event. The unlucky winner had drained three glasses of vodka, each a half litre, but would have won a further 10 bottles if he had survived. Presumably the prize went to his relatives to drink at his funeral.

The Russians have a worldwide reputation as heavy drinkers. It is estimated they consume an average of 15 litres of alcohol a head a year.

Maybe it is the cold climate or the downside of living under a communist regime for a long time, yet liquor consumption has increased markedly since the communist years, prompting government officials to call for a number of healthy living campaigns.

On the other hand, maybe the Russians are just more upfront about the fact they have a problem. If you look at the report of the Alcohol Liquor Advisory Council, it is impossible to avoid the conclusion that New Zealand also has a deeply ingrained binge-drinking culture.

In fact, New Zealanders drink 10 litres of liquor a year and 1.4 million adult New Zealanders could be described as binge-drinkers. We are kidding ourselves if we think we are a nation of social drinkers. The Alac report shows people are drinking to get drunk.

Most of the people in the Alac survey said they used liquor to wind down and relax. Others said liquor made it easier to socialise and meet people. Some people said liquor gave them a sense of belonging.

Large numbers of us - young and old - are drowning our sorrows in alcohol. It's not only teenagers who go through a stage and then grow out of it, as we may conveniently imagine. News reports tell us the greatest number of binge-drinkers are white, affluent, middle-aged and middle-class males.

That's true, but it's a bit of a red herring. If you look at 12- to 17-year-olds, about half are non-drinkers. The catch is that most of these young non-drinkers are under 13 and/or are regular church-goers.

Does this mean we will see younger children getting drunk to relax and wind down? Will we see 10- and 12-year-old children thinking that getting drunk is the norm for their age group?

Stories about the dangers of P and horrific events resulting from the use of such drugs make news headlines, but a check of newspaper clippings collected by Alcohol Healthwatch shows that last year, 279 stories about alcohol-fuelled crime made the papers, along with 298 stories about drink-driving.

Newspapers cannot cover all cases involving minor alcohol-related crime, so those figures are the tip of the iceberg.

This is not an argument in support of drugs such as methamphetamine but a reminder that misuse of liquor is the biggest drug problem in New Zealand.

What exactly is going on here? There are probably questions that need to be asked about the nature of our communities where young people feel they have nowhere to turn except to alcohol and drugs. Could this be tied in with our high rate of youth suicide?

We also need to start questioning our drinking culture. Many people would be quietly horrified if they turned up at a social or sporting event, or even a neighbourhood barbecue, to find the event was alcohol-free.

There's nothing wrong with a glass or two of alcohol, but somewhere along the line we seem to have gone wrong.

For a young person, drinking more than five glasses of liquor at one sitting puts you into the binge-drinking category - but that's just a few drinks for many young people.

At a young people's symposium, many calls were made for more education about drugs and alcohol.

Young people clearly recognise that all is not well. Health clinics report increasing numbers of young women who cannot remember whether they had sex while they were drinking. These young women may have picked up a sexually transmitted disease and they may be pregnant.

Heavy liquor consumption will also put their unborn babies at risk of a range of developmental disorders known as foetal alcohol syndrome.

It is encouraging to see the Alcohol Liquor Advisory Council's introduction of an icon to tell people how much they are drinking.

Another tactic that would make people take more notice is including health warnings on alcohol products that tell young people that heavy drinkers risk death from car accidents, and health problems such as cancer and alcohol dependency.

These are not happy outcomes for young people, and they need to know the facts.

At the risk of making heavy drinkers mutter darkly into their beer, I would suggest education should be funded out of increased alcohol taxes. Research shows clearly that young people drink less if they have to pay more for their liquor.

Without wanting to return to the days of prohibition, we need to start promoting events for young people that are not centred around liquor.

Sports clubs could lead the way by promoting family friendly events, and city councils need to think about what they can do in their communities.

Perhaps more important is the need to make a fundamental shift in our attitudes towards liquor.

Stop giving young people the message that drinking to get blind drunk is what you do when you are grown up.

We don't want to end up with headlines like the one from Russia, do we?

* Dr Gay Keating is the director of the Public Health Association, a non-political organisation aiming to promote debate on public health issues.