Andrew Dickens Afternoons

It’s back. The issue from the deep. The issue that has been round and round in circles so much that it’s dizzy. And it’s back with a one-two punch.First the Inquiry into mental health suggested it, and then a Coroner came out swinging after a teen death through drink driving.And now people are asking, "is it time to raise the alcohol purchasing age to 20-years-old?"The argument for the raise is pretty solid. The Law Commission has repeatedly suggested it. Medical evidence on accident probability and the effect on the brain and body of tends to supports it. There’s evidence that after the drinking age was lowered to 18-years-old in 1999, the number of alcohol related driving accidents amongst the 15-19-year-old age group had a corresponding rise.Allegedly, most of us support it. A nationwide poll by Curia Market Research, commissioned by Family First NZ in 2013, asked respondents, “do you think Parliament should have raised the drinking age to 20-years-old or kept it at 18-years-old?”The majority of people agr