By Youth Affairs Reporter LAURA

A CONTROVERSIAL alcoholic milk drink accused of being targeted at underage drinkers will be on the South Australian market within two months.

SA is the only state where Victorian company Wicked Holdings has been granted a licence for Alcoholic Moo Joose, with Victoria banning the product and New South Wales set to follow.

The drink – to be sold in bottle shops, restaurants, pubs and nightclubs – has an alcohol content of 5.3 per cent.

The move has angered drug and alcohol groups who are concerned the product – in Strawberry Rush, Banana Smash, Choc Fusion and Wicked Irish flavours – is marketed at young people.

"Alcoholic milk would exacerbate the serious problem of underage and binge drinking by young people," Centre for Youth Drug Studies director Geoff Munro said.

"The industry has been able to market a plethora of new products but we say enough is enough – we do not need alcoholic milk."

Company director Travis Morgan, 29, defended the drink.

"I'm just a dairy farmer trying to be more self sufficient rather than taking grants off the Government in hard times of the drought," he said.

"Kids drink a lot of Coke, lemonade and raspberry – now all alcohol companies have done is put alcohol into that product."

Consumer Affairs Minister Michael Atkinson said SA legislation was not equivalent to Victoria's in specifying a class of liquor.

"However, laws do require licensees to comply with a compulsory code of practice," he said yesterday. "This means we can clamp down on any marketing attempt by the product manufacturer that encourages young people to consume alcohol."

SA Liquor and Gambling Commissioner assistant Michael Jarvis said the licence, granted on April 28, entitles the company to sell liquor from SA anywhere interstate or overseas.

Mr Morgan said he hoped to have the product distributed in SA within the next two months otherwise he would sell to interested companies overseas.

Liquor Licensing Victoria refused a licence for the product in September. New South Wales Gaming and Racing Minister Grant McBride said there was "clearly an imperative" to ban the "dangerously misleading" product.

"My concern is that the container looks just like the sort of milk drink that a young child would have," Mr McBride said.