The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is effectively promoting substance abuse, says the car review website dogandlemon.com.

Dogandlemon.com editor Clive Matthew-Wilson, who is an outspoken road safety campaigner, say calls by the Taxpayers’ Union to reduce the tax on alcohol in order to help out pubs and restaurants, would simply result in more preventable harm.

“Alcohol is a direct cause of seven forms of cancer and other diseases. It’s three times as harmful as cocaine or tobacco, and it causes more deaths than all other addictive drugs combined”

“Alcohol is the second biggest contributing factor to road crashes in New Zealand. Even more disturbing is that many drivers in alcohol-related deaths were actually under the legal limit. Clearly, it’s time to start treating alcohol as a dangerous addictive drug, because that’s what it is.”

Matthew-Wilson, whose road safety research was awarded by the Australian Police Journal, adds: “The price of alcohol significantly affects how much people drink. Tax-free alcohol would therefore result in more use and more harm. It’s that simple.”

Matthew-Wilson says the government has a complete double standard where alcohol is concerned.

“We live in a strange time in history where P dealers get jailed for life, legal highs are banned, but liquor stores are overflowing with alcoholic drinks, many of them aimed squarely at young adults. If the government was serious about saving lives, it would urgently restrict the sale and promotion of alcohol, especially to vulnerable groups like teenagers.”

“I’m gobsmacked that the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union would see no problem with promoting the world’s most dangerous addictive drug.”

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