Just how bad is your drinking problem?

It’s not just students who are preloading on booze before arriving at bars ‘‘pissed as newts’’.

At least two-thirds (66.1 per cent) of New Zealanders who took part in the latest Global Drug Survey said they consumed alcohol before arriving at bars or nightclubs. One in five said they had consumed ‘‘a lot’’ and were ‘‘drunk’’.

The Global Drug Survey was carried out in 21 countries, including New Zealand, this year. The results are published today.

More than 3400 Kiwis took the survey, which was carried out online in partnership with stuff.co.nz and other media organisations around the world.

The findings confirm many New Zealanders still have a problems with alcohol.

Almost a third (32.4 per cent) wanted to cut back on booze, but just one in 20 (4.9 per cent) had plans to seek help in doing so.

More than a fifth (23.5 per cent) said others had expressed concern about their drinking.

Nearly half (44.2 per cent) thought that, if someone who was obviously drunk tried to get served alcohol in a bar or nightclub, they would get served.

The survey also confirms widespread ‘‘pre-loading’’, where people drink heavily at home or a friend’s house before going out on the town to drink more.

Police have previously raised concerns about the practice leading to violence.

Wellington Hospital emergency specialist Paul Quigley said more 75 per cent of alcohol-related presentations at the city’s emergency department had drunk most of their alcohol before going to town.

Alcohol-related injuries dominated the emergency department on Friday and Saturday nights, he said. ‘‘We get the usual: plain pissed, just drunk and unconscious. Otherwise we get the typical injury patterns associated with alcohol: head injuries and hand injuries from violence.’’

More than 42.6 per cent of Kiwis surveyed said they had been harassed by someone who was drunk.

Just over 5 per cent said they had been physically assaulted and 5.5 per cent said they had been sexually harassed or assaulted by someone who was drunk. One in five (19.9 per cent) had been afraid because of someone who was drunk.

‘‘Seventy per cent of the alcohol harm we see here is related to interpersonal violence,’’ Quigley said. ‘‘They’re all pissed as newts. It’s not people at licensed premises either – everyone keeps going on and on about the hospitality industry but these are all basically in the street or in private venues.’’

Those who turned up in an ED were often older than most people assumed, he said.

‘‘These [violent ones] have been in their mid to late 20s. A lot of the truly young ones, they tend to present with just being purely intoxicated.’’

Quigley worried that most of those who turned up in ED had been drinking with the intention of getting drunk, rather than simply socialising, relaxing or having fun.

Drug Foundation executive director Ross Bell said New Zealand’s drinking culture was still ‘‘if you’re going to drink, you have to get drunk’’.

‘‘It’s not a uniquely New Zealand problem, but there is something quite entrenched about ‘It’s Friday night, I’m going to get really f...ed up, I’m not likely to remember it, I might even punch my best friend,’ and that’s a good night out.’’

More than 100,000 people from over 21 countries took part in the GDS, including 3404 New Zealanders. The survey was web-based and self-selecting, so the results are not representative of the national population.