‘Two sides’ to alcohol debate

Press, 8 March 1982, Page 15

‘Two sides’ to alcohol debate

PA Nelson The public should realise that there are two sides to the debate on alcohol, according to the Brewers’ Association president, Mr John Beck. “The public debate focuses almost entirely on the negative side of alcohol,” Mr Beck told the association’s annual conference. “It needs to be said that the great majority of people who drink derive pleasure and wellbeing with their families and friends. “The problem of alcohol is not in its use but its misuse. It is people, not the product, that are the root of the problem. It is attitudes which have to be changed.” Only about 2 per cent of the drinking population abused alcohol, he said. Mr Beck called for an assessment of the circumstances surrounding alcohol abuse and studies into the trend towards consumption of drinks with a higher alcohol content, “particularly among young people.” There was medical support ■for the ,view that moderate amounts of alcohol could be beneficial for general health and well-being. . During the last decade,

beer consumption in New Zealand dropped 5.8 per cent. Consumption of spirits increased 80.9 per cent and wine, 113.5 per cent "If any progress towards restraint and responsibility in drinking is to be made, a first step must be' greatly increased public attention to the pure alcohol content of drinks." Mr Beck said. “Quite clearly, beer is the drink of moderation when wine is almost three times, and spirits 10 times, stronger. Yet a demand has been created in which the market growth is strongly towards higher-strength drinks and increasing per capita intake of alcohol.” The increasing consumption of wine, especially the cheaper bulk wines, contributed towards the country’s over-all alcohol problem, he said. “There is ample evidence overseas to refute the harmless, blameless glamour image in which wine is promoted.” Brewers saw the solution to alcohol abuse coming from public health education, so that children and young adults knew more about the use and effects of alcohol, he said: