Anglican Church Hears About Primal Drinking

New Zealand is caught in a primal, binge-drinking national crisis.

That’s what one of the country’s leading addiction therapists told the Anglican General Synod in Gisborne today. Professor Doug Sellman of the Psychiatry and Addiction Medicine of the National Addiction Centre told delegates to take a stand in what he called a national crisis.

Professor Sellman said, “We have a once in a generation opportunity to change the way we regulate alcohol in society. It is a national crisis and way of life and you have a role to address what science tells us what needs to be treated as a Class B drug.”

Archbishop David Moxon told delegates, “We as a church need to speak out and bring hope to what is a situation of hopelessness and as we speak out we also need to look at ourselves.”

The Synod passed strong support for the church’s involvement in Professor Sellman’s scientifically based solutions to change drinking trends. The five solutions are; raising the price and the purchase age, less accessibility to alcohol, a reduction in marketing and an increase in drink drive counter measures. There is also a recommendation to increase treatment opportunities for heavy drinkers. The Synod members voted to actively increase their own vigilance of alcohol consumption and to hold each other to account.

This afternoon the Synod will debate a motion for a ban on the advertising of alcohol.

The General Synod is meeting at the Emerald Hotel in Gisborne.

ENDS