A big night out getting bigger: Alcohol consumption, arrests and crowd numbers, before and after legislative change

Abstract

Background Restrictive practices on alcohol sales in entertainment districts have been introduced to reduce alcohol-related violence in youth. On 1 st July 2016, the Queensland State Government (Australia) imposed a 2-hour reduction in trading hours for alcohol sales in venues within specific night-time entertainment districts (NEDS; from 5am to 3am), a reduction in maximum trading hours for venues outside NEDs (with a maximum 2am closing time), the banning of ‘rapid intoxication drinks’ (e.g. shots) after 12am, and no new approvals for trading hours beyond 10pm for the sale of takeaway alcohol. No independent study has evaluated general levels of intoxication, crowd numbers, fear of violence, and illicit substance use as people enter and exit NEDS, both before and after the introduction of restrictive legislation. Further, no study has assessed the impact using matched times of the year in a controlled study and also assessed actual assault rates as recorded by the police. Method We conducted 3 studies–randomly breath-testing patrons for alcohol, as they entered and exited NEDs. Study 1 assessed patrons’ (n = 807) breath approximated blood alcohol concentration (BrAC) and predictions of how the legislation would change their drinking habits before the legislation was enacted. Study 2 assessed crime statistics and patrons’ BrAC levels and drug taking reports on an equivalent night, one year apart–before (n = 497) and after (n = 406) the new legislation. Study 3 was a test of the generalisation of Study 2 with two months of survey and BrAC data collected as people entered and exited the NEDs over two consecutive years before (n = 652 and n = 155) and one year after (n = 460) the new legislation. In Study 3 we also collected crime statistics and data on people leaving the entertainment district one year before (n = 502) and one year after (n = 514) the legislative change. Findings People predicted that the legislation would lead to them drinking more alcohol before they entered town or make little change to their drinking habits. Baseline data over the 2 years before the legislation (Study 3) demonstrated stable preloading rates and BrAC at entry to the NEDs. However, after the introduction of the legislation patrons entered the NEDs systematically later and increased their alcohol preloading. People were substantially more inebriated as they entered the NEDs after the legislative change, with approximately 50% fewer people not preloading after the new laws. Exit BrAC was less consistent but showed some evidence of an increase. Crime statistics and patrons’ self-reported experiences of violence did not change. Interpretation Legislation that does not specifically adapt to the cultural shift of preloading and take local conditions into account will be unsuccessful in reducing alcohol consumption. Such legislation is unlikely to meaningfully change assault rates in youth.

Crisis support services in night-time entertainment districts: Changes in demand following changes in alcohol legislation

“…The endorsement rate found in the current research was also considerably higher than research conducted in a Canadian sample that revealed approximately half of patrons preloaded (Wells et al, 2015). Our preloading rate is, however, consistent with our other, more large scale, studies from the same locations (Devilly et al, 2017;Devilly, Hides and Kavanagh, 2019). These sizable disparities may be attributed to cultural differences between the samples.…”

“…Similar to previous comparable research (e.g., Devilly et al, 2017;Devilly, Hides & Kavanagh, 2019), the majority of participants were in their early-20s (x ̅ = 21.18 years, SD = 4.45).…”

Effects of Alcohol Hangover on Cognitive Performance: Findings from a Field/Internet Mixed Methodology Study

“…Over the past decade or so, internet studies have been increasingly used in psychological research, including to evaluate the impact of substance use and complement field and laboratory studies on the effects of recreational drugs and alcohol [14,16,17,34,35,36,37,38,39,40,41,42]. Here, we employed a mixed methodology involving a subgroup of individuals who were taking part in ongoing field studies, SmartStart [43] and Last Drinks [44], into patterns and consequences of alcohol consumption. These studies included a cohort of patrons who were breathalyzed while leaving the entertainment area of an Australian capital city and agreed to be contacted the following morning to complete an internet study of hangover.…”

Alcohol‐related risk from pre‐loading and heavy episodic drinking (HED) among a cohort of young Australian women: a cross‐sectional analysis

“…HED within Australia, particularly among young people, has been a major target of public health interventions. A number of powerful interventions have been venue‐focused, such as a tax on the supply of alcoholic drinks, introducing early lockouts, and targeting venues that were linked to alcohol‐related incidents 38-40 . In the case of pre‐loading, such approaches have little impact as the alcohol is being consumed prior to entering licenced venues or events.…”

“…In the case of pre‐loading, such approaches have little impact as the alcohol is being consumed prior to entering licenced venues or events. If anything, such strategies could potentially lead to more people engaging in pre‐drinking behaviour, as a Queensland study found that restricting alcohol sales in an entertainment district led to an increase in pre‐loading and higher levels of intoxication when entering the entertainment district 38 . As pre‐loading is predictive of higher overall consumption, 9 interventions that do not take potential changes to pre‐loading into account could potentially increase risk of harm.…”