Teen drinking fuelled by home-delivered alcohol, experts say

Authorities fear the rise of home alcohol delivery services is fuelling teen drinking and giving vulnerable people greater access to booze.

Authorities fear the rise of home alcohol delivery services is fuelling teen drinking and giving vulnerable people greater access to booze.

Barwon Child Youth and Family executive director of client services Allan Murphy said studies showed a need to further understand and monitor home alcohol supply services.

“BCYF is concerned about the rise in home delivery alcohol service, particularly rapid response purchases,” he said.

Mr Murphy said there were limited controls in place for home delivery alcohol sales.

“It is difficult to determine if home delivery alcohol sales contribute to underage drinking or binge drinking as more research is needed to identify the impact,” he said.

Deakin University Professor of Violence Prevention and Addiction Dr Peter Miller said legislation around home delivery services was “not fit for purpose”.

Peter Miller is a violence prevention and addiction studies professor at the School of Psychology, Deakin University.

“There is no actual enforceable way to stop the sale to young people beyond responsible service of alcohol laws, which have consistently been shown to fail again and again,” he said.

“When researchers from Deakin University do test purchasing in sporting clubs, there is 100 per cent failure rate.

“When they’ve done it in bottle shops, it was around 80 per cent and even though interventions with major retailers initially reduced these numbers, sales increased once the retailers realised there was no real penalties involved.”

Dr Miller said a wide range of community groups held “substantial concerns” home delivery services made alcohol more accessible to teens and young people, but also to other vulnerable people.

“This means that a lot of young people will also be suffering from the alcohol use of their parents and the fact that modern technology means that alcohol industry knows what you are drinking, what price point you will order it at, and when you are most likely respond to a prompt through an app, email or Facebook advertisement,” he said.

Victorian Alcohol and Drug Association executive officer Sam Biondo said alcohol sales soared by 26.7 per cent in 2020, with 7 in 10 agencies reporting an increase in the number and severity of alcohol related treatment presentations.

“We believe that, within the current state of play for home delivery alcohol services, access to young people is potentially increased,” he said.

“A survey conducted in May 2021 revealed that 24 per cent of young people either were not asked to show ID upon receipt of an order or didn’t personally receive the order – someone else did.”

Mr Biondo said governments should enforce delays between ordering alcohol and delivery, with deliveries banned after 10pm.

He said delivery drivers should be trained in responsible service of alcohol skills so they can determine if a person is intoxicated.

Dr Miller called for similar regulations – including mandatory age checking and the ability for households to opt out of deliveries to protect vulnerable people.

He also called for police to operate a mystery shopper program to check for breaches.

“It’s not that alcohol delivery should be banned, it is that we need to be able to identify who is most at risk, what are the homes and how they can be reduced in the interest of the community with reasonable and sensible regulation,” he said.

Originally published as Teen drinking fuelled by home-delivered alcohol, experts say