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Published: 31 March 2023

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• Australia leads the world in research relating to online alcohol purchasing.

• Bottle Shop in your hand – with much less scrutiny.

• Endeavour & Coles account 60% of online sales – Endeavour Group accounts for 50% of sales grossing 1 Billion Dollars in sales. Coles 12% Both groups have experienced significant growth of online sales.

• WA Cancer Council reported that there was an alcohol advertisement on social media every 35seconds every single night in 2020 – all during height of Covid and the psycho-social vulnerabilities this created.

• Often alcohol supply to people under 18 to 24 and those under 18 did not have their ID check at time of order or delivery.

• Found deliveries frequently left unattended at point of delivery.

• Online deliveries were received on average of only one hour of purchase.

• Rapid delivery services extended drinking sessions and add to risks and harms in relation to oversupply and enabling extended binge drinking.
  
  
  For complete conversation and data go to to Webinar

Also see

• Predatorial Liquor Industry still largely unchecked! And who is paying the awful price?
• Victorian Liquor Control Reform Amendment Bill 2021
• Alcohol delivery in WA: Results from an audit of online alcohol retailers prior to and following the introduction of WA Liquor Delivery Regulations

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Published: 29 March 2023

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Many hospitalisations and deaths involve injury where the person injured had consumed alcohol, referred to here as “alcohol-related” injury. This report presents data from 2019–20 on 30,000 hospitalisations and almost 1,950 deaths from alcohol-related injury. For both males and females, falls, intentional self-harm and assault were the leading causes of hospitalisation. Among all hospitalisations for injury, 1 in 4 intentional self-harm and 1 in 5 assault cases involved alcohol.

Source: Australian Institute of Health & Welfare

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Published: 22 March 2023

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by CAA | Mar 18, 2023

Drunkenness has been a community issue since time immemorial, and there is no empirical data to show it is any worse or otherwise than it has been for many decades, relative to the size of the population.
Decriminalising public drunkenness is fixing a problem that does not exist to any significant degree.

As public drunkenness can be confused with homelessness, vagrancy, mental illness and drug abuse, it is, therefore, sensible that the ‘sobering up’ process should be done under medical supervision, which the Community Advocacy Alliance Inc. (CAA) supports. Equally, because the likelihood of belligerent behaviour is inclined to be more prevalent with drunkenness, securing and safety of these people and the community is and must remain a Police responsibility.

Once the affected person settles and the community is safe, the police can hand them to a facility where clinicians take responsibility.

This whole policy seems to have been designed by people without experience with drunks in the field.

Perhaps a little research should be undertaken, and then the proponents of this social adjustment may just find the number of persons convicted each year for drunkenness as a percentage of the population is meagre. And of those arrested and charged, even fewer are actually convicted, and no record of their indiscretion is recorded.

We reject absolutely the need for racial profiling in this process. Irrespective of the drunk’s heritage or race, they all need the same care.

Exposing the naivety of this proposal, the Herald Sun reports, “Patients at the sobering up site can only be taken with their consent and police or paramedics will need to step in if they become a safety risk or need urgent care.”

This statement alone raises very serious questions and exposes a lack of knowledge of a drunk person’s usual demeanour or the law.

1. With decriminalising drunkenness, the Police have no power to ‘Step-in’ when the contractor’s management of the drunk goes pear-shaped.
2. Drunks always consider they are not drunk enough to need care or admit to what they have consumed.
3. A person who is perceived to be drunk cannot give Informed consent at law.
4. Entering into a debate about sobriety, consent or otherwise, is a recipe for belligerence.
5. Our experience is it would be a rare drunk who would agree to the time out in the drunk tank.
6. How can a government sub-contractor physically intervene with a drunk?
7. What happens when a drunk is involved in a crime, either as a victim or a perpetrator – it does happen?
8. A serious risk assessment for contractors out on the street without powers is a disaster waiting to happen. The legal minefield this opens up for the liability of the government and contractors is breathtaking.
9. Another legal minefield will occur when the drunk decides they are sober enough to leave the facility, but the clinicians know they are not. Holding them even with their uninformed consent would be unlawful. (currently, Police have four hours to detain somebody who is drunk.)
10. Contractors will find difficulty hiring or retaining staff for this high-risk and filthy foul job.
11. Another small matter is suitable transport for drunks. The inevitable mess that often is associated with their transport is why police use a Divisional Van that can be hosed out. Putting a drunk in a traditional vehicle is impractical as vomit and other bodily fluids often exuded by drunks tend to permeate every nook and cranny and cannot be removed easily.
12. The consequence of placing multiple drunks in a facility not properly designed, quasi cells, will lead to inevitable conflict and a huge risk to clinicians.

All police know that when it is determined that a person is drunk, they must be decisive, not enter into debate and secure the drunk immediately to minimise the risk of injury to the drunk, the Police or the public. This skill is learnt and cannot be assumed to exist with untrained subcontractors. A questionnaire is no substitute for years of onsite experience.

The police power of arrest for drunk and disorderly must be left in place to protect the drunks, the Police and the public.

For complete article

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Published: 22 March 2023

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In their latest policy brief, the World Heart Foundation (WHF) establishes the evidence base that no amount of alcohol is good for the heart.
The latest scientific evidence shows that any amount of alcohol use, even low-doses, can harm cardiovascular health. The policy brief by WHF calls for urgent and decisive action to tackle the unprecedented rise in alcohol-related death and disability worldwide.

The World Heart Federation has released a policy brief establishing that no amount of alcohol is good for the heart. The brief calls for urgent and decisive action to tackle the unprecedented rise in alcohol-related death and disability worldwide.

“The portrayal of alcohol as necessary for a vibrant social life has diverted attention from the harms of alcohol use, as have the frequent and widely publicised claims that moderate [alcohol use], such as a glass of red wine a day, can offer protection against cardiovascular disease,” said Monika Arora, Member of the WHF Advocacy Committee and co-author of the brief, as per WHF website. These claims are at best misinformed and at worst an attempt by the alcohol industry to mislead the public about the danger of their product.”

Monika Arora, member of the WHF Advocacy Committee, co-author of the brief

For complete article

See also

• Does ‘Moderate’ Drinking Really Protect Against Heart Disease?
• There’s No Safe Level for Drinking Alcoho