The plan is being drawn up by Dunedin City Council staff who want to introduce a New Zealand Qualifications Authority-approved course to city schools.
The programme would cover the spectrum of alcohol-related harm, from health consequences to social costs, council liquor licensing co-ordinator Kevin Mechen said.
If approved, it could begin when pupils reached year 7 and continue throughout their high school years, to reinforce the message, he said.
Mr Mechen was talking to Public Health South staff about the project and hoped to have a detailed proposal to present to schools - and parents - for discussion next year.
That could see the programme ready for use in schools late next year, or by the start of 2015.
Otago Secondary Principals' Association president Rick Geerlofs had not heard of the initiative, but said he welcomed any move that would ''cause young people to think''.
''Clearly, any initiatives that are going to improve the way that our young people think about alcohol is a good thing, but we'd want to see the detail.''
Schools already offered a variety of alcohol education packages, including through the Students Against Driving Drunk initiative, he said.
''Hopefully, they [DCC] are working with those other agencies ... so that they're not duplicating something.''
Mr Mechen said his initiative was prompted by research that showed the drinking habits of most young people were set by the time they reached 18.
Evidence also suggested the impact of alcohol education initiatives, when staged irregularly in schools, waned over a few months, he said.
Mr Mechen said the key to the new programme would be to start early and repeat often, possibly as part of regular school work.
The aim would be to encourage young people to have a more responsible attitude towards alcohol in their formative years, before behavioural patterns were set.
''It's not about abstinence from alcohol. It's more about trying to encourage responsible use of alcohol so kids understand what it's doing to their bodies,'' he said.
Rather than starting from scratch, Mr Mechen was working to adapt an existing NZQA qualification, covering broader issues relating to alcohol, drugs and other issues, to suit the new message.
Exactly how it would be implemented, by whom and at what cost was not yet known.
Mr Mechen said there would almost certainly be opposition from some parents, but the programme would need to take a ''gentle'' approach when delivering the message to younger children.
He hoped to get buy-in from parents once a more detailed proposal was ready.
