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Grim development in Alice Springs crime crisis as pharmacies stop selling hand sanitizer, amid claims desperate drinkers have turned to the popular product
- All pharmacies in Alice Springs stop selling hand sanitizer
- The ban comes after emergency alcohol restrictions were introduced
- The Priceline co-owner said problem drinkers have been abusing for years.
- Piles of empty bottles found in campsites along the Todd River
Pharmacies in Alice Springs have pulled the hand sanitizer from shelves amid fears desperate drinkers will turn to it with emergency restrictions on alcohol sales.
Priceline stores in the troubled inner city took a radical step, anticipating that high-alcohol hand cleaner could be targeted and other chemicals followed.
New restrictions imposed by the Northern Territory government mean the town’s bottle shops are closed on Mondays and Tuesdays and can only sell spirits for four hours on other days.
The emergency measures were taken as authorities try to address the causes of a wave of violent crime that has hit Alice Springs in recent months.
Peter Hatswell, co-owner of three Priceline stores in Alice Springs, told Daily Mail Australia that the decision to stop selling sanitizer was made knowing that local people were already abusing it.
Pharmacies in Alice Springs (pictured) have pulled the hand sanitizer from shelves amid fears that desperate drinkers will turn to it with emergency restrictions on alcohol sales.
Alcohol use in Alice Springs has been widely linked to an increase in local crime.
“That drive to get alcohol at any cost needed to be reined in,” he said.
“When you have desperate people who need to find alcohol, it’s a recipe for disaster.”
Hatswell said the three stores he co-owns have pulled sanitizer off the shelves and he expects every chemist in the city to do the same Wednesday night.
Pictured: Priceline store co-owner Peter Hatswell
“All the pharmacies in the city talk to each other and by tonight they will all be doing the same thing,” he said.
The remote pharmacist who has been visiting aboriginal communities in the NT for 16 years, said the hand sanitizer is popular with problem drinkers due to its 70 per cent alcohol content.
“Because it is so strong, it offers a very good bang for those who abuse alcohol, at least twice the strength of a spirit, such as whiskey or brandy,” he said.
Drinking it could cause permanent damage to the esophagus, stomach, or intestines.
“For now, while Alice is seeing an increase in alcohol abuse, it’s in the best interest of public safety.”
Hatswell, who personally ran pharmacies in Alice Springs for 25 years, said hand sanitizers were abused as a form of alcoholic beverage as soon as they became widely available at the start of the pandemic.
The hand sanitizer was popular with local problem drinkers as soon as it hit shelves during the pandemic due to its 70 percent alcohol content.
People in Alice Springs can no longer buy hand sanitizer at pharmacies. Pictured Alice Plaza
“When Covid first hit we started selling large quantities, probably too much was sold and stolen,” he said.
“We then received reports that many empty bottles were found in camps along the Todd River where First Nations people were staying.
“It appears that they were not using it for its proper use, but were instead drinking it, which is very dangerous and unhealthy.”
“So we restricted him by putting him behind the counter and vetting every sale, but it still wasn’t enough.”
The NT government, after consultation with the Anthony Albanese Labor government, reinstated bans on the sale of takeaway alcohol on Mondays and Tuesdays in Alice Springs for the next three months.
On other days, customers are limited to one transaction per day at bottle shops and alcohol to-go sales are restricted from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Longer-term solutions are yet to be decided.