Waipiro / alcohol and Māori

It is important to know that pre-European Māori were one of the few known societies not to have manufactured or used psychoactive substances.

Many Māori petitioned Parliament for the total prohibition of alcohol, realising the harm that it was causing to their communities.

There is an excellent resource on the history of alcohol and Māori, click the button below.

A HISTORY OF MĀORI AND ALCOHOL

Trends in alcohol consumption among Māori

 ‘Hazardous drinking’ refers to an established alcohol drinking pattern that carries a risk of harming the drinker’s physical or mental health or having harmful social effects on the drinker or others.

From 2006/07 to 2011/12, hazardous drinking prevalence among Māori men and women dropped considerably (from 43.5% to 37.1% in men, and from 24.2% to 20.9% in women). 

From 2011/12 to 2015/16, hazardous drinking remained stable among Māori men but increased substantially among Māori women.

In 2012/13, Māori women had a rate of hazardous drinking equal to that of European/other men.

Among men, the rates (%) of hazardous drinking are below:

Among women, the rates (%) of hazardous drinking are below:

The survey question changed in 2015/16 - but what can be seen is that the rates of hazardous drinking remain high among Māori men and women.

Inequities between Māori and non-Māori

In 2019/20, there were large and preventable differences in the prevalence of hazardous drinking between Māori and non-Māori:

• Māori were 1.8 times more likely to be classified as hazardous drinkers
  • Māori men were 1.6 times more likely to be classified as hazardous drinkers
  • Māori women were 2.2 times more likely to be classified as hazardous drinkers

Alcohol-related harm among Māori

Māori suffer extraordinary harm from alcohol - from their own drinking and from the drinking of others:

• Between 2004 and 2007, Māori deaths from alcohol were two and half times greater than non-Maori.
• Of the 802 alcohol-related deaths in New Zealand in 2007, 185 were Māori and 617 were non-Māori.
• Higher proportions of cancer among Māori are due to alcohol, with an average of 12.7 years of life lost from alcohol-attributable cancer for Māori compared to 10.1 years for non-Māori.
• Breast cancer is the leading cause of alcohol-attributable cancer death in both Māori women and non-Māori women, accounting for 61.1% of all alcohol-attributable cancer deaths.
• Māori are more likely to be apprehended by police for an offence that involved alcohol
• Māori are more likely to experience harmful effects on areas such as financial position, work, study or employment, injuries and legal problems as a result of their drinking compared with other New Zealanders
• Māori women suffer more adverse effects as a result of other people’s drinking than any other sub-group by ethnicity and gender.
• There are strong links between alcohol and suicide. New Zealand has the highest rate of youth suicide in the developed world and again, inequities are present between Māori and non-Māori.

The roles of the social, economic and physical environment

Economic

Economic deprivation plays a major role in drinking and harm. Māori are more likely to experience deprivation than non-Māori.

Social

Among Māori adults, experiencing discrimination was found to be significantly associated with elevated levels of hazardous alcohol use. Mediation analysis revealed that 35% of the effect of Māori ethnicity on higher rates of hazardous drinking could be acting through experience of discrimination.

New Zealand Secondary school students who report experiencing ethnic discrimination are almost twice as likely to report binge drinking as those who do not.

The effects of colonisation, institutional and structural biases are likely to play major roles in Māori consuming greater amounts of alcohol and experiencing disproportionately more harm from their drinking.

Physical

Māori are more likely to live in communities saturated with alcohol outlets. Outlets face stiff competition so will often lower their prices and stay open for longer. 

This increased availability of cheap alcohol and longer opening hours is likely to play a major role in Māori suffering more alcohol-related harm.

Research shows that Māori (and Pacific) young males (18-24 years) are more likely to be hazardous drinkers when they live in close proximity to alcohol outlets.

The Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 requires that appropriate policies and procedures are in place to protect employees and others. Responsibilities fall on both employers and employees.

Please visit WorkSafe for more information. 

There are lots of great examples of alcohol policies in the next section: Take Action Now.

Public place drinking

Drinking in public places is associated with significant harm and disorder and is an important setting to take action.

Police data in 2007/08 identified public places to be the last place for drinking in 18% of alleged offenders who drank alcohol before their offending (14,838 apprehensions). Almost half (47%) of the alleged offenders were assessed as moderately affected by alcohol and 13% were extremely affected by alcohol at the time of arrest. In other words, around 60% of offenders were assessed at the higher end of intoxication.

Given that it is illegal for young people to drink within licensed premises (except when accompanied by their parent/guardian), public places may be a popular setting for young people to drink. Given the unsupervised nature of this drinking, it presents a significant risk of harm.

Pre-loading and side-loading in public places

Drinking in public places may also be preferred for drinkers who wish to “pre-load” before entering licensed premises. This means that they consume alcohol prior to entering a bar or night club, for example.

Public places may also be used to “side-load”, whereby off-licence alcohol is consumed between visits to different on-licence bars and clubs. Many young people describe the reasons for pre-loading being 1) wanting to get drunk and 2) because off-licence prices are cheaper than the price of alcohol in bars.

In a study of 25 countries, New Zealanders were found to have the 4^th-highest prevalence of pre-loading. To address this, we need strategies which increase the price of alcohol at off-licences.

Public place drinking makes people feel unsafe in their communities

Drinking in public places contributes to people feeling unsafe about where they live, work or play. In a New Zealand Quality of Life Survey conducted in 2014 across 6 major cities, over 66% of residents considered alcohol to be a problem in their local areas. Part of these perceptions may be due to public place drinking.

There are also significant costs to councils and ratepayers associated with public drinking, due to the costs resulting from litter, vandalism and other disorderly behaviour. Cleaning up in CBD areas can come at a considerable cost in some towns and cities.

Normalisation of drinking (and violence)

Finally, we should be concerned about the normalisation of alcohol use when it is consumed in public. Just like smoking, alcohol consumption can be normalised when we see it occurring in our everyday settings. This includes the great outdoors (e.g. national parks) and large public events (e.g. music festivals). Large events that sell alcohol present additional risks through exposing young people to drinking as well as exposing them to alcohol advertising and marketing (through sponsorship and alcohol products).

Another issue relating to alcohol-related problems in public areas is the normalisation of anti-social behaviour. It is suggested that when people see alcohol-related violence in night-time areas, not only does it incite fear but it may lead to drinker’s expectations that violence goes hand in hand with drinking. This may result in further violence in night-time areas.

Addressing alcohol use in public places through liquor bylaws

Policies that restrict alcohol use at specific events or locations have the potential to affect public place drinking. To reduce harm, we need to address drinking which is time- and occasion specific, as well public drinking which occurs through casual gatherings.

Time- and occasion-specific drinking is that which is associated with specific situations or events where there are likely to be large congregations of people e.g. sport events, concerts or specific holiday times. Casual gatherings are non-specific events where people drink in public places, carrying a high risk of alcohol-related violence, vandalism and public disorders.

Alcohol bylaws can be especially useful to restrict this type of drinking and therefore reduce harm. To ensure that alcohol bans/bylaws in public places are effective, stakeholders and communities need to work together. Extensive research has found that community partnerships involving police, local authorities, health agencies, community representatives and liquor liaison groups are seen to enhance the effectiveness of liquor bans. Such partnerships can improve communication and information-sharing and benefit policing.

A case study of public place bylaws in New Zealand found that breaches of alcohol/liquor bans were often resolved by way of warnings or cautions, instead of arrests and prosecutions. As such, the number of reported prosecutions relating to breach offences can be low. People are often found to comply with an officer’s warning.

There is a lack of high quality studies relating to whether alcohol bans reduce harm. A case-study which explored the implementation of a liquor ban at Piha beach (a popular beach in Auckland) found that there was a decline in police call-outs for alcohol-related incidents and motor vehicles crashes. Liquor bans in the Auckland CBD have also been associated with increased perceptions of safety. However, it must be noted that the effectiveness of alcohol bans is closely linked to the level of police enforcement, as found in Wellington City.

Click here to go to the References page