ACT on Campus Disappointed At Ill Informed Press Conference

ACT on Campus is today disappointing by the ill informed press conference held at Parliament by leading New Zealanders.

"Members of Parliament, Former Governors General, Knights and Dames should know better than to promote social policy based on bad science and bad economics," says Peter McCaffrey, ACT on Campus President.

Statistics quoted at today's press conference included a claim that 700,000 New Zealanders are problem drinkers as well as a comment by National MP Jackie Blue that problem drinking in New Zealand cost $25 billion a year.

"Statistics can be twisted to suit any political agenda and the Law Commission has simply defined anyone who consumes more than four or six (for females/males) drinks over the course of a night as a binge drinker to inflate the figures and exaggerate the problem," says McCaffrey.

"Similarly, the Law Commission's own figures, calculated by Business and Economic Research Limited (BERL), put the social cost at only $4.8 billion a year and even this figure has already been heavily discredited as being hugely inflated, including private costs and ignoring any external benefits of alcohol consumption. The study was assessed last year by economists and Treasurery officials who called it "grossly exaggerated", "bad economics", "seriously flawed", "misleading" and "shonky"."

"Undoubtably we have a problem with alcohol abuse in New Zealand but it's time that alcohol policy was based on good science and sound economics instead of hype, political spin and scare tactics by politicians and the public health lobby. Only then will we see real solutions and real improvements to the problems we face," says Peter McCaffrey, ACT on Campus President.

ENDS

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