Ban alcohol from supermarkets, urges New Zealand medical authority

Selling wine and beer next to food ‘normalises’ a dangerous drug and should be sold at specific outlets

The New Zealand Medical Association has called for a ban on selling alcohol in supermarkets, saying that having it next to groceries and food normalises a dangerous drug.

Wine and beer have been widely available in most supermarkets around the country since 1990, although spirits can be bought only in bars and off-licences.

The New Zealand Medical Association (NZMA) said having alcohol in supermarkets normalised the drug, and made buying it cheap and easy – meaning people put a bottle of sauvignon blanc in their trolley alongside their bread, milk and toilet paper without a second thought.

According to the association well over half a million New Zealanders consume alcohol in a hazardous way, with many emergency rooms filled on Friday and Saturday nights with alcohol-related admissions.

The NZMA believes it is the government that is best placed to crack down on heavy consumption – a position supported by many health and social policy academics and Alcohol Healthwatch.

Dr Kate Baddock, the chair of the association, said evidence suggested alcohol was worse than methamphetamine, marijuana and heroin, because it was a cheap, addictive, psychotropic drug.

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“Alcohol contributes to domestic violence, many cancers, and car accidents,” said Baddock, who pointed out supermarket alcohol was an everyday “temptation” for alcoholics trying to stay sober. “If you are putting alcohol next to your bread and milk, you are essentially saying having alcohol is the same as having bread and milk on a daily basis.”

New Zealanders are binge-drinkers who consume 10 litres of pure alcohol a year, says Nicki Jackson, the director of Alcohol Healthwatch. That amount is the same as Australia, but more than the US and Canada and less than the UK and Ireland.

Most supermarkets in New Zealand sell alcohol and competition is stiff. Wine can be bought for as little as NZ$7 (£4) a bottle – or $1 per standard drink.

In Britain, alcohol is also widely available in supermarkets but in Australia there are tougher restrictions, with alcohol only sold in some supermarkets under special circumstances.

Jackson said allowing supermarkets to sell alcohol was an attempt to convert New Zealanders to a Mediterranean drinking culture – having it available “everywhere” – that had backfired badly.

“When wine came into our supermarkets in 1989 you can see this exponential growth in wine consumption ... we are Anglo-Saxon and you can’t change cultures overnight, and having alcohol widely available did not change our culture, it harmed it.”

The cost of “mopping up” alcohol-related harm was NZ$5bn a year, said Jackson, which included police call-outs, injuries and long-term health effects.

Professor Sally Casswell, a professor of public health and social research at Massey University said she supported a ban on alcohol in supermarkets.

“Treating wine in this context as an ordinary part of the shopping experience is a normalising process. There is also some evidence about the impact of alcohol marketing in retail outlets on children ... in New Zealand children are exposed to alcohol marketing on 85% of their visits to supermarkets.”

Caswell said selling alcohol only in specialist stores combined with strong regulation would be an “ideal” situation; as is the case in Norway.

A spokeswoman for Foodstuffs, the parent company of New Zealand’s largest supermarket chains, said there were already strong restrictions in place on purchasing alcohol in its stores.

“The majority of our customers are responsible consumers, and we think buying alcohol with food is a responsible way of shopping.” said Antoinette Laird from Foodstuffs NZ.