The 111 Files: Be merry but stay safe, plan ahead

In the festive season, its easy to let the drinking get a little out of hand.

It would be fair to say that most people have never heard of human sustainable metabolism (HSM).

Nor had I until I recently heard about a Kiwi activity called Crate Day.

Participants of Crate Day (held on December 1) are expected to consume 12 750ml bottles of beer in less than a 12-hour period.

That's nine litres, or two household buckets full of beer. Wow!

HSM is the body's ability to process alcohol at a rate that it can keep up with.

If you drink at a rate your HSM can keep up with, you can consume alcohol all day without becoming intoxicated.

For most people it would take 24 hours to drink nine litres of beer without impacting on their HSM.

One bottle every 2 hours - quite possible?

I am guessing that most people participating in Crate Day would have condensed this into an afternoon/evening session which will have resulted in failure of HSM, causing intoxication and possibly police intervention.

Rotorua police resources were stretched last weekend with 33 incidents of disorder being reported.

Police had to cope with large numbers of drunken youths fighting and damaging property.

All of this was preventable.

The distraction of alcohol-related incidents has a huge impact on our ability to provide service to our community.

The Sale and Supply of Liquor Act 2012 states the sale and supply and consumption of alcohol should be undertaken safely and responsibly and the harm caused by the excessive or inappropriate consumption of alcohol should be minimised.

Crate Day hardly falls within the realms of responsible drinking.

The festive season is now upon us.

December is the month when we celebrate with friends, work mates and family. We all want to have a good time, but we must remember to look out for each other.

So if you're at a work function or Christmas break-up, a little bit of planning goes a long way. Appoint a sober driver, have someone in your group take some responsibility for everyone's welfare and keep an eye out for those who are consuming too much.

Imagine if your partner, family member, friend or work mate needed help, but the police were tied up dealing with someone who had drunk too much.

How would you feel? What if the person who was creating trouble and tying up the police was the same person you had seen earlier throwing the drinks back and you did nothing.

Just like the new anti-drink driving TV ad highlights - "Don't put your balls into anyone else's hands". Look after them yourself, stay safe and plan ahead.

-Sergeant Dave Hamilton is the acting alcohol harm reduction officer for Rotorua.