Dear Colleague,
The end of the beginning is in sight. With 40 meetings down and two to go, Alcohol
Action NZ will be fully launched by the end of the week.
We're into the final push with two final meetings this week and just enough time
for late submissions to the Law Commission.
The final two meetings are:
Christchurch, Art Gallery Theatre, Tuesday 17th November, 7.30-9pm
Porirua, Helen Smith Community Room, Wednesday 18th November, 7.30-9pm
Please strongly encourage all your personal contacts in Christchurch and Porirua/Wellington
to come along for these meetings; to show their support, to join the campaign and
of course to hear about ten things the alcohol industry won't tell the public of
New Zealand about alcohol.
There have been an estimated 4520 people attend the other 40 meetings. This includes
over a thousand secondary school pupils at Thames High School, Rangitoto College
and Nelson College (where Sir Geoffrey Palmer was a student).
We are into the final minute of injury time in terms of submissions. The Law Commission
email portal is closed but advice has been that the Commission will continue to
receive late written submissions until the end of the week. They had received over
2000 submissions by the end of October, the largest number of public submissions
ever received on a social issue. This is already a massive signal to the government
that the public of New Zealand are energised about this issue. This signal will
only be further brightened by 200 late submissions.
If you've not yet put in a personal submission, follow the easy guide in the attached
document. You don't have to write a PhD; just write your thoughts about the current
national alcohol crisis and the measures you think are needed to make a real difference.
You don't have to agree with everything in the 5+ Solution (the best international
scientific information for informing a society how best to reduce its alcohol-related
problems); just write those elements you feel particularly energized about.
We have detected a groundswell of feeling about marketing and advertising and just
hope the Law Commission have too. Dismantling the marketing machine will be the
key to reducing the extraordinary drug-pushing that is going on by the alcohol industry
in New Zealand, much of which is directed at our children.
Phase two of the campaign will begin at the end of the month with the first teleconference
of the newly created Alcohol Action NZ network.
All good at this point.
Doug