An archive of recent news articles on the topic of alcohol and drugs.
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Don't give teens booze - police
21st August 2012
Timaru police have a strong message for anyone supplying young people with alcohol: you are putting them at risk. Officers were called to a Kelvin St address about 10.30pm on Saturday after a number of calls from concerned residents. Most of the calls related to young people "hanging around" on the street, police said. When police arrived there were about 15 young people who had brought liquor supplies with them. Senior Sergeant Mark Offen said adults supplying young people with alcohol, most commonly parents and siblings, needed to remember they were "loading their children" with a drug.
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Cigarette ruling to light way for others
16th August 2012
The Australian Government's constitutional victory over major tobacco companies is expected to unleash a new international move against cigarette marketing. The High Court's finding that plain packaging laws - due to come into force in December - are legal has set a precedent that other countries including New Zealand, Britain and India are interested in following. In April the New Zealand Cabinet agreed in principle to follow Australia, subject to public consultation.
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Booze is worse - legal-high warning
16th August 2012
Health professionals have told the Government that allowing the sale of alcohol while ruling out potentially less-damaging "legal highs" is farcical. Products such as Kronic will have to be proven less damaging than existing recreational drugs including alcohol and tobacco under a proposed legal-high law, say documents obtained by the Herald under the Official Information Act. The legislation, being crafted by Associate Health Minister Peter Dunne, aims to end the uncontrolled sale of untested products like Kronic. It will establish a system under which manufacturers will pay up to about $2 million to have their substance proven "low risk".
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Council ponders penalties if smoking banned
15th August 2012
Strong public support for Hamilton to stub out smoking in playgrounds and parks has the city council in a quandary over whether to penalise people for smoking in public areas or take a softer, self-governing approach. Banning smoking in public areas which could include sports grounds, parks, reserves, playgrounds and possibly special zones such as Garden Place is likely to be introduced in Hamilton if the council listens to a survey of 170 citizens where the majority of respondents supported the move. But a workshop on a proposed smoke-free bylaw had councillors puzzled yesterday as they pondered whether to introduce a bylaw with financial penalties.
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Drunk adults fail to fasten children's seatbelts
15th August 2012
Two drunk adults fastened their seatbelts but left two children unrestrained in the back seat of a car as they drove home swerving across the highway, police say. Worried motorists phoned police about the car when it was spotted swerving in its lane heading north on State Highway 1 at Horotiu on Friday. The 29-year-old female driver was already wanted by police because her learner licence was suspended for a lack of demerit points.
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Valerie Adams awarded Olympic gold
14th August 2012
New Zealand has won its sixth gold medal of the Olympics after Valerie Adams' rival Nadzeya Ostapchuk tested positive for drugs and was stripped of gold. The dramatic development occurred just hours after the curtain came down on the 30th Olympiad in London. Ostapchuk tested positive test for metenolone, an anabolic agent. The result means the 27-year-old Adams has won gold at successive Olympics. It lifts
New Zealand one place on the medal table to 15th, ahead of Cuba and is our second best gold haul, just behind the eight of Los Angeles in 1984.
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Free fags spark inquiry
14th August 2012
An investigation will be launched following revelations one of the world's biggest tobacco companies gives New Zealand workers free cigarettes. Imperial Tobacco's commercial boss Brendan Walker this week confirmed cigarettes were available to office staff and workers during breaks at its Petone factory. "It is purely for research. The fact of the matter is we are keen to receive the feedback and comments on those particular manufacturing runs," he said.
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Olympics: Drug cheat - 'I had to dominate'
9th August 2012
The 2008 Olympic race walk champion who was expelled from the London Games for doping broke down in tears while recounting how he hid the banned substance in the home he was sharing with star figure skater Carolina Kostner. "I made a huge error," Alex Schwazer said. "And I can only repeat, I'm sorry."
Schwazer said he flew alone to Turkey in September with 1,500 euros (now $1,850) to buy the blood booster at a pharmacy. He said he disguised it in a box of vitamins in a refrigerator at Kostner's home in Germany, where he was staying in July.
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Smokers' jobs bar a smokefree step too far
8th August 2012
Medical unions say denying smokers employment is a step too far in the quest for a smokefree New Zealand and could lead to obese people not being employed in the health sector. The Waikato Times yesterday reported that the Waikato District Health Board was seeking legal advice on whether it could refuse to employ smokers. A poll on the Times website yesterday revealed mixed opinions - with 56 per cent for the move, and 44 per cent against. While medical unions spoken to by the Times supported the board's move to become smokefree, they were worried at the direction in which it was heading.
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Liquor store location 'ideal' say police
8th August 2012
The location of a proposed new liquor outlet next to a South Auckland TAB has been described as "ideal" by police. ''Quite frankly, if you are going to have another liquor outlet, this is the ideal place for it,'' Sergeant Gavin Campbell told the Liquor Licensing Authority on Friday about a proposed off-licence next to the TAB at Botany South shopping centre. He said the well-tenanted commercial area had no foot traffic, wasn't near any schools and police from the Ormiston station regularly used a service station next door. ''We share the community's concerns but the reality of the world is that these things can and do exist,'' Campbell said.
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