Alcohol and Drug Abuse: Health Impacts, Risks & Policy in New Zealand

This report examines the issue of alcohol and drug abuse in New Zealand, highlighting its adverse impacts on the health and behavior of youngsters and adults. It discusses the rising trend of alcohol consumption among young people, driven by peer pressure and the perception of it being a normal activity, while emphasizing the associated risks, including risky behavior, accidents, and poor social positioning. The report identifies the need for stricter regulations on alcohol sales and consumption, along with exploring the underlying reasons for increased alcohol intake among youngsters, such as family problems and academic pressures. It proposes solutions like government fines for public intoxication, cessation of alcohol marketing, and the establishment of rehabilitation centers, recommending policy changes that involve healthcare professionals in intervention and treatment, as well as heavy taxation on alcohol to promote responsible drinking habits. The report concludes by emphasizing the government's responsibility in curbing alcohol and substance abuse to create a safer society.

Running head: ALCOHOL AND DRUG ABUSE
Alcohol and Drug Abuse
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1ALCOHOL AND DRUG ABUSE
Introduction
Alcohol is consumed by many people of New Zealand and it is considered a hazard to
health. Though society has tried to normalise the intake of alcohol it is still not considered a
regular commodity and it has added disadvantage to health. It is a concern of the state to ensure
that people take alcohol in normalised precautions. To stop the people of Newzealand from
alcohol related harms it is necessary to place regulations and policies that are strict and that can
help the youngsters from consuming alcohol in dangerous proportion. Alcohol has started to be
considered a very widely used drug in New Zealand and youngsters are consuming it in higher
quantity. If evidences and records are to be believed, it is assumed by most youngsters that it is
normal to drink and that it has no disadvantage. Alcohol Laws ground inhibitions of a person and
therefore their behaviours and their attitude start to change from the moment the start consuming
alcohol. Peer pressure place a very important role and due to the availability of alcohol many
youngsters have started to mix the drinks. Evidence shows that bad behaviour is directly linked
to alcohol and that whiskey drinking has also culminated into accidents and poor social
positioning.
Problems
The problem that needs to be solved in the current situation is putting a strict restriction
on the consumption and sale of alcohol. After the consumption is curtailed it will be more
prudent to enquire into why youngsters have started to drink more alcohol and how they perceive
the changed behaviour. The reason why young people have started to drink is because many
youngsters of the same age group have started to come together to drink occasionally. The
reasons for drinking are many, mostly to have fun and also for the point of only getting drunk.
Therefore, summarizing the key problems, it can be said that:

2ALCOHOL AND DRUG ABUSE
1. Alcohol has an adverse impact on the behavior of youngsters and adults alike.
2. Alcohol increases risky behavior along with having a severe impact on health and
mental well being.
Discussion
Family problems as well as pressure in school and colleges have also added to the higher
intake of alcohol. School students in college students have revealed that they are suffering from
lack of confidence and to forget about the insecurities and to start relaxing more they have
started to drink (Macfarlane & Christie, 2015). All the substance abuse reports have pointed
towards a growing trend in the use of prohibited substances like drugs and alcohol. The young
age of a student shapes is future and the future of a student is the future of the country. One
student steps to take alcohol it starts to affect his health and wellbeing and it has also been
observed that students who consume alcohol steps to becoming obese and also frequently ill
(Meier et al., 2016).
Solutions
If the youngsters start to indulge in substance abuse it becomes very difficult to bring
them back to normal life and reports have shown that the students in New Zealand have started
to take substances at alarming rates. Students who drink avoid social meet and also do not attend
school thereby the great has started to drop and they have become lethargic and less ambitious.
Problems in the family and detachment from the close ones play a very important role and
students who do not get the love and support of their parents take the wrong route of taking drugs
and alcohol (Fry, Fry & Castanelli, 2015). Alcohol consumption has also increased because the
addicts did not get money from the family and therefore they take the route of gambling and

3ALCOHOL AND DRUG ABUSE
stealing. Shifting to the use of drugs which are not predominantly used for the purpose of
recreation but are illegal to be consumed (Cameron et al., 2016). The list of journals that do not
concern themselves as illegal alcohol tobacco and BZP. The focus is on the use of illegal drugs
party pills which are not considered legal for consumption. Drug and alcohol abuse is not general
specific and it has been seen to be affecting genders and age unanimously. (Cerda et al., 2016)
The solutions can be enumerated to put a responsibility on the Government to impose fines in
case of public intake of alcohol and drugs. Advertisements on the newspaper as well as on the
television impact and promote alcohol consumption and therefore any kind of marketing of
alcohol as well as sponsorship should be stopped. Even if alcohol advertisement is allowed they
should come with a statutory warning explaining the health hazard.
Conclusion
In conclusion it can be said that the relationship between alcohol and the minds of young
people is very complex and drinking has become common place for people. Drinking and post
severe health hazard as well as drugs have an impact on the societal behaviour increasing abuse
harassment and unjustified and unreasonable attitude. It is the responsibility of the Government
to produce more checks and also make public drinking a punishable offence. If drinking and
substance abuse can be curtailed, risky behavior as well as accidents will decrease and the
country will become a safer place to inhabit (McQueen et al., 2018).
Recommendations
A few changes in the policy can be adopted so the doctors as well as Healthcare
professionals come together to help the youth as well as people of any gender and age recover

4ALCOHOL AND DRUG ABUSE
from the harmful abuse of drugs. Health care professionals have a huge burden on their shoulders
and therefore it is their responsibility to make sure that they take every opportunity for
intervention and to give the best needed facilities that will help the patient to recover (Trotter,
2015). The government should come up with specific health related policies so that there is a
cessation of harmful drinking like the government in New Zealand could stop public smoking.
The tax system should not favour drinking and therefore that should be heavy taxation on alcohol
and their needs to be a reduction on unit pricing. Rehabilitation centers should be opened across
the country and diverse treatment should be allowed and people with alcohol dependence should
be treated with the minimum fees (Gallety et al., 2016).

5ALCOHOL AND DRUG ABUSE
References
Cameron, M. P., Cochrane, W., Gordon, C., & Livingston, M. (2016). Global and locally-
specific relationships between alcohol outlet density and property damage: Evidence
from New Zealand. Australasian Journal of Regional Studies, The, 22(3), 331.
Cerdá, M., Moffitt, T. E., Meier, M. H., Harrington, H., Houts, R., Ramrakha, S., ... & Caspi, A.
(2016). Persistent cannabis dependence and alcohol dependence represent risks for
midlife economic and social problems: a longitudinal cohort study. Clinical
psychological science, 4(6), 1028-1046.
Fry, R. A., Fry, L. E., & Castanelli, D. J. (2015). A retrospective survey of substance abuse in
anaesthetists in Australia and New Zealand from 2004 to 2013. Anaesthesia and
intensive care, 43(1), 111.
Galletly, C., Castle, D., Dark, F., Humberstone, V., Jablensky, A., Killackey, E., ... & Tran, N.
(2016). Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists clinical practice
guidelines for the management of schizophrenia and related disorders. Australian & New
Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 50(5), 410-472.
Macfarlane, V., & Christie, G. (2015). Synthetic cannabinoid withdrawal: a new demand on
detoxification services. Drug and alcohol review, 34(2), 147-153.
McQueen, J., Howe, T. E., Allan, L., & Mains, D. (2018, April). Brief interventions for heavy
alcohol users admitted to general hospital wards. In Society for Social Medicine Annual
Scientific Meeting & European Congress of Epidemiology.
Meier, M. H., Hall, W., Caspi, A., Belsky, D. W., Cerdá, M., Harrington, H., ... & Moffitt, T. E.
(2016). Which adolescents develop persistent substance dependence in adulthood? Using
population-representative longitudinal data to inform universal risk
assessment. Psychological medicine, 46(4), 877-889.
Trotter, C. (2015). Working with involuntary clients: A guide to practice. Routledge.