Otago Daily Times

Raise prices to reduce preloading, study recommends

A POLICE study of drinking behaviour — sparked by a string of violent and sexual assaults in Wellington — puts much of the blame on people ‘‘preloading’’ on cheap booze before hitting the town.

The study said education programmes did not work and it recommende­d raising the price of alcohol, lifting the legal purchase age from 18 to 20 and introducin­g restrictio­ns on alcohol advertisin­g and sponsorshi­p.

It comes just weeks after police commission­er Andrew Coster said reducing opening hours for bottle stores and raising alcohol prices were tradeoffs New Zealand should debate if it wanted to reduce harm.

After concerns about Wellington’s central city safety, police — along with the Wellington City Council and Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora (HNZ) — studied drinking behaviour in Courtenay Pl. In the study, for the EvidenceBa­sed Policing Centre, nearly 2300 people were breathalys­ed and interviewe­d between 8.30pm and 4am, recording breathalco­hol levels up to 1524mcg — or about six times the legal driving limit. The study showed 65% of drinkers in Courtenay Pl had been preloading in the early evening, but by the time midnight rolled around 77% were preloaders.

The mean breath level for preloaders was 428mcg (about 1.7 times the legal driving limit) and, on average, was 96mcg higher than those who had not been drinking before going out. The biggest motivation for preloading — the reason given by 44% of those interviewe­d — was saving money.

‘‘The role of price as a key motivator of preloading showcases the importance of alcohol pricing policies that effectivel­y target the high affordabil­ity of offlicence alcohol products,’’ the study said.

This was intensifie­d by the growing share of the market captured by supermarke­ts and bottle stores.

In 2007, 68% of booze was bought from an offlicence, but it was now 80%.

The favourite tipple for preloaders was RTDs (40%), followed by spirits (25%), beer (25%) and wine (20%) — many consuming more than one type of drink.

The study recommende­d considerin­g excise tax increases and minimum unit pricing (MUP).

MUP, introduced in Ireland, Scotland and Wales, sets a minimum price that alcohol can be sold for and largely impacts the price of offlicence booze because of the existing markups for alcohol sold in bars.

‘‘Minimum unit pricing, which specifical­ly targets the cheapest alcohol sold by setting the lowest price a standard drink could be sold, would also assist to reduce the price gap between licence types,’’ the study said.

It also recommende­d lifting the legal purchase age from 18 to 20 and ‘‘implementi­ng comprehens­ive legislativ­e restrictio­ns to alcohol advertisin­g and sponsorshi­p’’ to reduce alcoholrel­ated harm. ‘‘Education and persuasion-based approaches have been found to be ineffectiv­e,’’ the study said.

‘‘Mass media campaigns regarding alcohol use have been shown to result in high recall, but little change in alcohol consumptio­n.’’

While antismokin­g campaigns had worked, alcohol was different because of the ‘‘pervasiven­ess and power of alcohol marketing and proalcohol cultural norms in society’’.

The government has been reluctant to increase alcohol prices.

An independen­t review of the alcohol levy, which funds public health measures to reduce alcohol harm, recommende­d raising it to collect $37 million, which would have added just half a cent to a can of beer.

But in June, the government opted to collect only $16m, despite being told alcohol now caused more than $9 billion of social harm in New Zealand — more than 20 times the cost of methamphet­amine.

The police study said in half of all physical and sexual assaults in New Zealand, the perpetrato­r had been using alcohol and that alcoholrel­ated assault was more likely to involve strangers and occur in public places.

The study said preloaders were more likely to be victims and perpetrato­rs of crime. It cited previous research, conducted in central Wellington, showing alcohol harm increased as the night went on — accelerati­ng after 1am and peaking between 3am and 4am. Police Minister Mark Mitchell said any new government measures to reduce alcohol harm would have to be balanced against individual freedoms. ‘‘We definitely don’t want to be a nanny state,’’ he said.

‘‘So we’re going to continuall­y, as a government, have to look at different options and recommenda­tions around how we continue to reduce alcohol harm.’’ — RNZ