Comments on: Has the time come for New Zealand to introduce a legal drinking age?

By: Jenna

Jenna — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 01:51:01 +0000

I was an under age drinker myself , now i go to places such as AA for this. i think young people need help to deal with things so they dont turn to the bottle for help… Where are the families? they should be helping their young ones not hurting them

By: Megan

Megan — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 22:30:27 +0000

Hi Humphrey,
The answer to your question depends on the situation. If the adult purchased the alcohol from a licensed premise with the intent of supplying it to your under-age child, then yes, the law has been broken, if the Police can establish there was “intent to supply”. But if the situation was supply of alcohol in a “private social gathering”, such as at a party, then no, the parent has no legal recourse.

This is a hot topic currently because the Government has proposed creating a new offence of supplying liquor to a minor without the consent of the minor’s parent or guardian, which would apply in both public and private settings. The legislation is expected to be introduced to Parliament late July/August. If this proposal becomes law, it would be a major change, such that NZ would have a “drinking age”.

Regards, Megan

By: humphrey

humphrey — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 10:15:39 +0000

so..if an adult gives alcohol to your underage child without your consent..are they breaking the law…and what action should you take

By: SuNNy

SuNNy — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 23:53:19 +0000

The only reason why there are underage drinkers is because the legal drinkers give it to them..
Might as well band alcohol in this country if yous have a problem with underage drinkers!!!
Gawsh…

By: Megan

Megan — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 20:09:16 +0000

Hi Julie,

You’re right, the bit you’ve queried is an over-simplification (I was going for brevity). I was really making the point that the law against supply to minors revolves around the purchase transaction. An offence under Section 160 entails proving the supplier intended to supply the purchased alcohol to the minor. So its practical application is to ‘willing stranger’ situations around off-licence premises, but the majority of supply to minors is via parents, other adults and older friends, and wouldn’t be captured by s160.

The drinking age subject would need a lot more public debate before getting anywhere. Brian Easton touched on the subject in his recent Listener article.

Thanks for pointing out that inaccuracy in my article.
Regards,
Meg

By: Julie

Julie — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 00:42:54 +0000

“nothing illegal about anyone supplying any young person with alcohol”

I quote above from Megan Larken’s article about whether it is time to introduce a legal drinking age and I am somewhat confused about the above quote. Am I reading section 160.(1) incorrectly? Admittedly the section is only talking about the liquor being purchased from a licensed premises but as I read it, it is still illegal to supply liquor to a minor - or perhaps Ms Larken is not talking about minors in the above quote.

By: Rosina

Rosina — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 20:57:40 +0000

Very informative blog. A bit of an eye opener, I imagined some sort of drinking age law was already in place. I don’t think it’s radical at all, it needs to happen. The more simple and clear cut the better, hopefully giving police more power to round up underage drinkers.