Anglicans May Join National Alcohol Campaign

Professor Doug Sellman, Director of the National Addiction Centre, University of Otago, has been invited on Tuesday to the General Synod of the Anglican Church, being held in Gisborne for the first time, to present information about the 5+ Solution.

A motion has been put to the Synod for the church to become involved in the national alcohol campaign based on the 5+ Solution.

"The international evidence is clear" says Professor Sellman, "if we want a change to our heavy drinking culture the government can play a major role in strengthening alcohol regulations".

The 5+ Solution" is based on the renowned World Health Organisation publication "Alcohol: No Ordinary Commodity".

1. Raise alcohol prices 2. Raise the purchase age 3. Reduce alcohol accessibility 4. Reduce marketing and advertising 5. Increase drink-driving countermeasures Plus: Increase treatment opportunities for heavy drinkers

Professor Sellman says that if the 5+ Solution is adopted by the General Synod, the Anglican Church will be joining 450 of the leading Drs and Nurses in New Zealand who recently signed a national alcohol statement. This statement draws attention to the history of how the smoking culture has undergone such major transformation over the last 30-40 years and endorses the 5+ Solution as the evidence-based framework for the same landscape change of the heavy drinking culture in New Zealand.

"The Law Commission's recently released final report has a range of specific recommendations entirely consistent with the 5+ Solution" says Professor Sellman. "This is not unexpected because the Law Commission's report is based on a comprehensive review and careful consideration of the international literature headed by one of New Zealand's finest legal minds - Sir Geoffrey Palmer's".

However, Professor Sellman predicts the alcohol industry will now be lobbying hard to deflect government attention away from these strategies, particularly increasing alcohol taxes, reducing marketing and advertising, and decreasing the blood alcohol concentration (BAC) permissible for driving.

"These are three key policies revealed in their own internal documents to be the ones they view to be the greatest threat to maintaining the status quo, the heavy drinking culture, from which they derive huge financial benefit while the taxpayer picks up much of the tab for the enormous social costs associated with heavy drinking".

ends

© Scoop Media