This blog will closely look at whether the drinking age should be raised or not. It will give an insight of a very debatable subject that we are confronting in New Zealand today.
This website looks at the legal drinking age and provides a few facts about New Zealand and their alcohol.
This link is connected to an article that looks at the parliament taking into consideration the change of drinking age back to 20 because of several teenage problems relating to alcohol. It shows that 75% of New Zealanders are in support of changing the drinking age. Also it views some of the laws wanting to be changed as follows:
“* Return legal drinking age to 20.
* Limit all TV advertising of alcohol to after 10pm
* Make the Broadcasting Standards Authority the watchdog for alcohol advertising.”
This site looks at how the government has raised the age for purchasing alcohol in shops and supermarkets to twenty. However eighteen year olds are still legal to be drinking in bars, hotels and restaurants. The teenager’s under eighteen are to be supervised are a parent and if the parents fail to act on it they will be fined $2,000.00
The site shows the harm that drinking age is doing to the New Zealand society. The article looks at how lowering the drinking age has caused major incidents to teenagers putting them in hospital due to traffic related injuries. In addition to an individual party leader says that the parliament’s decision of changing the drinking age to 18 was indeed a huge mistake.
This link directly connects to a document that argues the point of how reducing the drinking age has given New Zealand an increasing number of teenage car smashes. The document offers some overwhelming stats about the two gender’s crash rates percentage between the ages of 18-19 compared to the percentage of 20-24. The link shows that younger the person is the more likely there is to be an accident taking place. Again the document also supports the drinking age to be raised as due to the effects of alcohol.
The website connected looks at the parliament’s member Matt Robson and how he was in favour of reducing the drinking age back in 1999. However now it states that he is fighting “for the reversal of the law” because of the incidents that are happening to teenager’s in relation to alcohol. The article shows that surveys were done and it resulted that the “majority” of New Zealand citizen’s are in full support to raising the drinking age.
References:
Irvine, E. (August 18, 2010). Raising the drinking age. Retrieved October 1, 2010, from
http://www.bayofplentytimes.co.nz/local/news/raising-the-drinking-age/3919502/
Mc Donald, P. (August 23, 2010). NZ raises legal age for buying alcohol. Retrieved October 1, 2010, from http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/08/23/2991076.htm
Murlooney, P. (2005). Drink age and crash. Retrieved from http://www.vuw.ac.nz/staff/dean_knight/DomPost01.pdf
Thomson, A. (May 5, 2005). Drinking age back on the ballot. Retrieved October 1, 2010, from http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10123936
Walsh, R. (September 8, 2005). Low drink age kills 12 teens a year. Retrieved October 1, 2010, from http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10344591
