"I'd love to see mocktail nights, dances with mocktails and one day for there to be balls with mocktails," she said.
She made the comments this week as a mocktail contest was held at the Cromwell youth centre as part of a booklet launch by the Central Otago Youth Access to Alcohol (YATA) group.
The booklet, Challenging Attitudes, is for Central Otago teenagers and their parents, and covers a range of topics from alcohol, drugs and violence through to mental health and safe partying. Group member and Public Health South health promoter, Queenstown-based Mrs Roxburgh said she hoped the booklet would prompt discussion and make a change.
Although the name of the group only mentioned alcohol, the group's focus was much wider.
"This booklet is a parenting tool for the teenage years and we're hoping parents and teenagers will talk together about its contents," she said.
It was written the way teens talked and was not "preachy".
"The last thing we want is to have the booklet sitting around - we want people to pick it up and talk about it, for kids to talk to their parents about the topics and vice-versa."
The initial print run was 2000 copies and it was funded by ACC, she said. It contains photos of Central Otago teenagers and phone and website contact details for a wide range of help and support agencies, most based in the district.
Mrs Roxburgh said initially it would be distributed through schools, where it would be handed out at end-of-year prizegiving ceremonies in the next few weeks.
The booklet had been adapted from a similar resource distributed in the Rotorua area.
The YATA group was set up last year, based in Cromwell, but had widened to cover all Central Otago, she said. Group members include school principals, youth workers, police and health promoters.
