Drinking age should be 20, say Western BOP residents

The legal drinking age should be returned to 20, according to three-quarters of people in a new Western Bay of Plenty poll.

A poll for the Bay of Plenty Times found 75.2 per cent of locals want the Government to push the legal drinking age back to 20 after it was lowered to 18 five years ago.

Associate Health Minister Jim Anderton this week told a meeting in Tauranga it had been a mistake to lower the age.

The policeman in charge of youth services in Tauranga, Sergeant Nga Utanga, said raising the age would not solve the problem because young people learned alcohol patterns from their elders. "Parents need to take responsibility," he said.

Mr Utanga said youth crime had risen since the legal age limit for drinking went down.