As establishment politicians gather at Parliament to catch up with The Opportunities Party’s harm reduction based Real Deal Cannabis Reform, TOP is moving forward to tackle the serious issue of alcohol related harm amongst young people.
After analysing all the evidence since then Prime Minister Jenny Shipley cynically lowered the age of purchase to 18 in 1999, TOP has reached the conclusion that restoring the age of purchase to 20 is the best way to reduce the harm inflicted on young people.
“One doesn’t need to be a policy analyst to see that lowering the age of purchase has effectively lowered the socially acceptable age at which young people start drinking”, says Party Leader Dr Gareth Morgan, “Along with that has come an increase in harm to young people through motor vehicle accidents, teen sexual assault and mental and other health issues”.
Particularly concerning is the fact that young woman are now the fastest growing group of problem drinkers in the country and girls in their mid- teens are being exposed to multiple risks through our burgeoning booze culture.
“This isn’t the fault of our young.” Dr Morgan says, “It is the inevitable result of a law change made for all the wrong reasons, to buy votes for an incumbent government and serve the interests of its corporate backers.”
The Opportunities Party is also advocating an increase in the excise on alcohol to help fund harm prevention and addiction services.
“We know some young people will oppose this move but they can rest assured TOP’s soon the be released Youth Support Package will more than make up for anything they feel they have lost through this change”.
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bob Atkinson commented 2017-07-05 07:00:25 +1200Fair question. Governments are paternalistic; they decide if something is too grown up for some of its inhabitants such as driving, getting married, drinking, joining the army. They are making an age judgement about those inhabitants or at least the average of those inhabitants.
As adults we each have permission to make those judgements for ourselves so for example I decide if I will drink alcohol.
It does seem odd that you can trust someone to vote for representatives to make these decisions and other important decisions such as taking in refugees, changing tax rates, sending the Army to Afghanistan but then say you cannot be trusted to buy a glass of white wine. Maybe an argument for a legal coming of age? -
Oliver Krollmann commented 2017-07-04 22:07:26 +1200I have a question. What does the proposed drinking age have to do with the voting age? In what way are these two linked?
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bob Atkinson commented 2017-07-04 17:20:43 +1200The correct policy. Likely to lose you votes. What age do you propose for voting? Is a child ready to vote and marry before they are ready to drink?? I don’t know the answer but if you can risk your life for your country (army or police) then you should be able to vote and at that point drink.
Will there be problems with student bars with 1st years banned? -
Oliver Krollmann followed this page 2017-07-04 12:34:54 +1200