Law Commission proposes raising drinking age, prices

The Labour government last year tasked the commission with reviewing the liquor licencing laws. Photo / Dean Purcell

Sweeping changes to the way alcohol is bought and consumed could be enshrined into legislation if recommendations by the Law Commission are taken up by the Government.

Proposed changes included increasing the price of alcohol, raising the drinking age, and radically lowering the breath alcohol level for drivers.

Commission president Sir Geoffrey Palmer outlined some of the preferred policy options it would be releasing for the public to make submissions on, in a speech at a Nelson pub this morning.

Last year, the then Labour government had tasked the commission with reviewing the liquor licensing laws in the context of New Zealand society and making recommendations for any changes that needed to be made.

Sir Geoffrey hoped to have a discussion paper outlining issues for public submissions by July.

He said today he was "launching a trial balloon" on some of the issues the commission had discussed before presenting their paper.

There were two aspects to the commission's inquiry, he said.

The first was the contribution that excessive use of alcohol led to law and order problems in the country.

The second was the serious health and injury effects from alcohol consumption, as well as a list of other social harms.

"Alcohol is no ordinary commodity. It is a drug," Sir Geoffrey said.

"Alcohol would be classed as a Class B drug under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1975 if it were treated on its merits, according to many experts."

Like any drug, alcohol could cause harm, he said

"It is the minimisation of this harm that has to be the prime object of any new law, balanced with the need for any regulatory controls to be efficient and effective."

One of the issues for later discussion was the substantial gap between the taxes the country received from alcohol purchases, $795 million, and the estimated social cost of harmful misuse of alcohol of $5.296 billion.

"It does seem to me that the taxpayer should not be asked to shoulder as much of the burden as is currently being met from public funds," Sir Geoffrey said.

"It does seem that the case for increasing the price of alcohol to ensure drinkers contribute more to the costs imposed on society is persuasive."