“.. A leading Auckland researcher in suicide prevention says the Government missed a trick when the alcohol laws passed through parliament unchanged last month.
During a webinar marking the 10th annual World Suicide Prevention Day yesterday Professor Gregory Luke Larkin, from Auckland University, discussed the preventable causes of suicide, which included alcohol and drug abuse, particularly in young people.
The US academic, relatively new to the country – said a stroll through the city in the evening made the state of play starkly obvious.
“Walking over the bodies of young people vomiting on the streets – you have to look at alcohol,” Larkin said.
Chief Coroner Judge Neil MacLean last week released annual suicide statistics that showed an increase in suicides among youths as well as Maori and Pacific Islanders nationwide.
In total last year there were 547 suicides, including one boy aged between five and nine, 11 children aged between 10 and 14 and 80 people aged 15 to 19.
Dr Annette Beautrais also spoke at yesterday’s internet-streamed presentation -
- and highlighted the fact New Zealand’s suicide rate of 11 in every 100,000 was the highest in the English-speaking world…”
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Suicide Prevention NZ | Alcohol Reform An Opportunity… | Stuff.co.nz.
