Penalties for supplying underage drinkers cause serious harm while drunk

Adults who knowingly supply alcohol to underage drinkers should be
heavily penalised if those underage drinkers cause serious harm while
drunk, according to a leading road safety campaigner.

Clive Matthew-Wilson, editor of the car buyers’ Dog & Lemon Guide, was
commenting after the government announced that it is considering
making it unlawful for adults to give alcohol to young people at
private functions without their parents' consent.

Matthew-Wilson says: “This proposed legislation, however well-
intentioned, is doomed to failure. A child could forge a letter of
consent from his parents, just as children regularly forge notes to
their teachers.”

“Also, this proposed law change assumes that parents are responsible
and organized. At the bottom of the social scale there are many
parents who think it’s normal to be blotto as often as possible and
these parents think it’s perfectly reasonable to share their alcohol
with children.”

“While I was in a South Auckland house, I saw a mother feed wine to a two-
year old child until the child got drunk and threw up. The mother
thought this was amusing. If we were talking about heroin or
methamphetamine, that mother would be behind bars tonight, yet where a
drug like alcohol is concerned, the government just looks the other
way."

" Supplying alcohol to underage drinkers in a manner that is likely to
lead to tragedy is no different to supplying methamphetamine in a
manner that is likely to lead to tragedy. The same penalties should
apply.”

“I’m not talking about penalising a parent who gives a child a glass
of wine at a restaurant. I’m talking about penalising any adult who
knowingly gives a child alcohol in circumstances that are clearly
likely to lead to self-harm or criminal behaviour by that child.”

“It’s ridiculously easy for young teenagers to get drunk, and the
consequences are often disastrous. The alcohol these teenagers are
drinking comes directly or indirectly from adults; that’s a fact. If
you can slow down this supply, you can lower the numbers of dead and
injured teenagers.”

Alcohol is directly implicated in around one quarter of road deaths
and 35% of all types of injury. A study of 12 -17-year-olds by the
Alcoholic Liquor Advisory Council showed that one quarter of 14-17-
year-olds drink heavily and regularly.

Matthew-Wilson added: “Young teenagers, especially in large groups,
are frequently incapable of making informed decisions about booze.
However, the adults who supply these teenagers with alcohol are
perfectly capable of making informed decisions and should pay the
price if the teenagers offend as a result of drinking.”

See also:

http://www.dogandlemon.com/media/Safety%20PDF/Victims%20of%20Circumstance.pdf