What about stronger regulation of alcohol marketing, sales and drink driving?
Answer
The current National Government has taken some action on the availability of alcohol and drink driving, which is explained briefly below. As for tightening alcohol sponsorship and marketing, this has the weakest evidence behind it in terms of reducing harm of all the available actions. TOP will keep a watching brief on the evidence base in this area.
In 2012 the Government allowed Local Authorities to create Local Alcohol Policies (LAPs) that theoretically allow locals greater say over the placement and hours of alcohol outlets. However this approach has been found to be legally lacking; in 2016 Dunedin City Council got taken to court for trying to implement them. The Opportunities Party would work with Local Authorities to review the LAPs and make sure they contain minimum standards plus the ability for local people to truly have a say over how alcohol is sold in their area.
In 2014 the National Government also lowered the allowable blood alcohol level from 80mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood (0.08), to 50mg (0.05). There are some countries with a lower blood alcohol limit than this, such as Norway and Sweden (0.02). TOP’s position is that we need to evaluate the impact of the recent change before any further decisions are made.
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