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On the first weekend after 16-year-old James Webster died from drinking too much alcohol , paramedics on the streets of Auckland found that the attitude of "it won't happen to me" still prevails.
Last week New Zealand received a sobering reminder of what alcohol can do when the King's College student died from drinking too much.
It was a wake up call to parents showing just how easily alcohol is accessed and how easily lies can be told.
Close Up joined a rapid-response paramedic on Auckland's streets over the weekend to see how much damage teen drinking is doing.
For paramedics night shifts at the weekend are all about drunken teenagers.
"We'll see some grossly intoxicated people who are unconscious as a result of alcohol use," says Roger Blume, a St John Rapid Response paramedic.
"I think most young people are fairly carefree and easy and have done it before and will do it again."
On Saturday night Pakuranga College students were expecting "all they could drink" at their after-ball party - and given the on-site private ambulance it seems the organisers were too.
But unknown to the students as they filed through, liquor licensing had already had the alcohol removed .
The tougher approach is very likely linked to last week's tragic death but it seems some of the students don't think what happened to James could apply to them.
One student told Close Up not to use one example as the whole thing and out on the streets of Auckland the attitude was the same.
Blume is not surprised at their attitude.
"Apart from those who were close to that individual who sadly died last weekend I would suggest it will have absolutely no impact at all," he says.
However, one call the paramedics received over the weekend may suggest that mums and dads may be more concerned.
St John responded to a 16-year-old girl's family who called because she was grossly intoxicated and unconscious.
"I think parents will be more concerned with monitoring their kids' drinking, however a lot of it is unknown or undetected and parents have no idea where their kids are or what they are doing," says Blume.
For the rest of the night similar calls kept coming. One was for a male found unconscious behind a gym, covered in vomit while another was for a 15-year-old who had wet himself and was lying in his own sick.
"He came part way home saying wanted to be sick got so far, fouled himself, wanted to be sick, vomited and as he vomited on the pavement thought that would be nice place to lie," says St John paramedic Craig Wisnewski.
He says this is a pretty typical scene for a Friday and Saturday night.
As the 15-year-old was taken home a call came about a 15-year-old female who had a fall in a backyard that was not her own. It's not clear how she got there but she had been drinking. And then it's off to another incident after a member of the public rang in about a person lying unconscious on the side of the road.
"Access to these Raro flavoured RTD's makes drinking very easy and we see some very drunk people as a result of it," says Blume.
None of these situations are new to the paramedics, many of who are also parents. They say what they deal with every weekend does make them worry about what is in store.
"Parenting is to bring your kids up to understand what alcohol can do, but once they have left home you can't always stop them," says Blume.
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