Doctors sound alarm over teen drinking

Top doctors say letting 18-year-olds buy alcohol is a failed experiment that has harmed teenagers and they want the legal age restored to 20.

Youth health physician Dr Peter Watson said the health consequences of lowering the age were inadequately considered in 1999 when the law was changed.

"We had a natural experiment by changing the law. Now we are going back because there is mounting concern from people in lots of different areas."

The acting clinical director of Christchurch Hospital's emergency department, Professor Michael Ardagh, said the number of alcohol-related presentations to the department had been rising before the change, but doubled in the two years afterwards.

"The promise we had when it was going to 18 was at least we will be sure no one under 18 gets in - a hard 18. That hasn't happened."

Legislation being promoted by Progressive MP Matt Robson would return the age to 20.

Groups backing the restoration say lowering the age added to a decade of liquor liberalisation that had already bolstered worsening teenage drinking trends.

They link the 1999 move with rising rates of sexually transmitted infections, teen pregnancy, presentation of young alcohol overdose cases at hospitals, youth binge-drinking, violence and under-18s illegally drinking in public.

And there is concern that the promise to strictly enforce the "hard 18" limit has been broken. This has made it easier for younger people to buy alcohol and reduced what the police call the "de facto drinking age" to 14-16, from 17-19 before the change.

But opponents say that if people are mature enough to vote, join the Army and marry at 18, they should be able to buy alcohol.

Alcohol researchers have found conflicting trends in the prevalence of teenage drinking before and after the change and an upcoming Justice Ministry report finds no conclusive evidence that it has adversely affected teen drinking habits.

The proportion of 14- to 15-year-olds and those aged 18-19 who drank grew between 1995 and 2000, but among 16- to 17-year-olds it shrank.

The amount consumed per drinking session increased for all three age groups and the frequency of sessions increased for the younger two.

The chief executive of the Alcohol Advisory Council (Alac), Mike Macavoy, said Alac supported restoring the purchase age to 20, but implementing this would not solve New Zealand's problems with the bottle, including binge drinking, which required a culture change.

"When we looked at young people's drinking, we found that it mimics the drinking behaviour of adults."

Alcohol Healthwatch notes that the age reduction followed a decade of liberalisation, such as wine sales in supermarkets, and was accompanied by further loosening, including Sunday trading.

Beer, Wine & Spirits Council chief executive Nicki Stewart said the council held no view on lowering the purchase age, but it supported Alac's campaign to change attitudes.

STARK TRENDS

* 12 % of secondary students said they had had sex and later regretted it - and blamed alcohol.

* 27 % had ridden in a car with a potentially drunk driver at least once in the past month.

* 37 % of 15-year-olds who bought liquor said they were almost never asked for identification

* 299 - The average number of 15- to 19-year-old drivers having fatal or injury crashes in each of the past three years.

Source: Official Government figures