Sabin Mike: Alcohol Reform Bill — In Committee 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Sabin Mike: Alcohol Reform Bill — In Committee 
[Sitting date: 30 August 2012. Volume:683;Page:5011. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
MIKE SABIN (National—Northland) 
: 
 In terms of the debate this afternoon on the purchase age can I just firstly acknowledge the Minister in the chair the Hon Judith Collins in terms of the wider reforms in the Alcohol Reform Bill. I also acknowledge the member Tim Macindoe for his Supplementary Order Paper 280 which I will be supporting. 
I have 17 years’ background in both policing and drug education and policy and I believe that to some extent I have had some grassroots experience in understanding the context of the problems this nation is grappling with. I will be asking members to raise the purchase age to 20 for two core reasons: firstly the biological and physiological side of the discussion and secondly in terms of culture change and empowering communities. 
In terms of the biology the adolescent brain is biologically quite different from that of a grown mature adult. The human brain is the most complex tapestry in the known universe. We are born with 100 billion neurons each capable of making around 10000 connections with one another and that is just as a baby. The changes in the brain are dramatic over the course of the adolescent years. That is the time that most of the change is occurring. It is the time that brain scientists will tell us the brain is most susceptible to harm. It is also a time when the brain is absorbing drugs and alcohol—in particular in terms of this discussion—eight times quicker and metabolising them some three times slower. 
The problems that can occur in an adolescent brain can lead to a far higher probability of ongoing problems in adult life not just with addiction but also in terms of overall brain function. Alcohol is a depressant in that it slows brain function. The first effect of alcohol is to impair judgment. The second is to lower inhibition and alongside that to stimulate dopamine and give a pleasure or reinforcement to that activity. Therefore what we are talking about is the first thing that happens to an 18-year-old brain which is that it is impaired it slows the judgment is altered and the activity is reinforced. In my view there is a big difference between an 18-year-old brain and a 20-year-old brain not just in terms of how it metabolises alcohol but also in terms of maturity of the individual their judgment their ability to make decisions and the influence of their peers at that stage. I believe that there is a difference between an 18-year-old and a 20-year-old and the long and short of it is that I believe the longer we can delay the uptake or certainly the heavy abuse of alcohol the better it will be for that individual. 
As part of the studies that I did looking at drug policy it was quite clear from examples in the United States since prohibition that as the purchase age rose the harm reduced and as the purchase age reduced so the harm increased. 
Just in terms of culture change and empowerment as a drug educator I spoke to some 150000 people around the country over 5 years. The overwhelming sentiment from the people whom I stood in front of was that the change to the purchase age that had occurred in 1999 was a major contributor to the drinking problems we have now. I do not necessarily agree that that is the case but it is the perception and that perception has become a very strong reality. Therefore a change in the purchase age will indeed have a major impact in terms of sending a message that culture change must occur. I believe that that message is very important. In terms of sending a message and empowering our communities by saying we acknowledge that this change has been a contributing factor—albeit I do not believe it is the only factor but it is certainly one of the big ones—and by changing it we are empowering a community that we will rely on in the time moving forward because the purchase age in itself is not the panacea. 
We will grapple with this problem for a long time yet. We need the public’s support to do that and they are looking to us in this Chamber today to give them the tools to say we acknowledge that this has been an issue and that changing the age is sending that message that is so desperately needed. As I say it will not solve all the problems but we need the public on our side. I want members to consider both the physical and biological impacts of alcohol and I want them to consider that we need parents and community on our side. I implore members—