Our harmful drinking culture

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Editorial

This February, the New Zealand Drug Foundation is running ‘FebFast’ (www.febfast.org.nz), inviting people to fast from alcohol during February and raise funds for those working with young people with alcohol problems. As the NZ Drug Foundation reports, the facts about drinking in New Zealand don’t make for easy reading:

• Among those that have consumed alcohol in the past 12 months, one in five have hazardous drinking patterns. That’s about 532,000 people.
• Alcohol is the cause of 1 in 20 deaths of New Zealanders under 80. That’s around 800 deaths a year.
• At least a third of all Police-recorded offences are committed by offenders who consumed alcohol prior to committing the offence. That’s an average of 340 offences per day.
• Studies estimate the social cost of drinking alcohol in NZ is $4.9 billion a year. That’s over a thousand dollars per person.

Heavy alcohol consumption in New Zealand, particularly among young people, is both normalised and glamorised. As I leave work on a Friday afternoon, I regularly pass groups of university-aged young people shouldering cartons of beer. ‘It’s okay, they’re young—it’s what young people in New Zealand do,’ some argue. But heavy alcohol consumption must not be seen as a rite of passage into adulthood. Plenty of Kiwi young people drink only in moderation or, like many in The Salvation Army, not at all.  

In this edition, you can read the experiences of Matt Fejos, who found the heavy-drinking culture of university quickly overshadowed his student life. Matt initially cut back, but then decided to stop drinking alcohol all together.

I met Matt when he was coaching my son in futsal. One thing he doesn’t mention in his article is that another factor in his decision not to drink was realising he had a responsibility as a sports coach to be a good role model. As he told me on one occasion, he didn’t want the kids he coached during the week to see him rolling drunk in Wellington's Courtenay Place on a Friday night.

If you’d like to enjoy life without alcohol calling the shots, contact The Salvation Army’s Addiction Services for some friendly advice. Go to www.salvationarmy.org.nz/addictions.

Christina Tyson
Editor (War Cry magazine)

Bible verse

Proverbs 3:5 Contemporary English Version
‘Let the Lord lead you and trust him to help.’

Ngā Whakatauki 3:5
‘Whakapaua tōu ngākau ki te whakawhirinaki ki a Ihowā, kaua hoki e okioki ki tōu mātauranga ake’