The latest Ministry of Health figures show that 85 per cent of people aged 18--24 drank alcohol in the past year. Just last week, an Otago University student party prompted controversy after one student was urinated on while unconscious as part of a drinking initiation.
Christchurch tertiary students say the drinking culture is "toxic".
Klay August, a student at Ara, said the pressures to drink depended on the social crowd.
“[Young people are] much more easily influenced. From what I’ve seen there seems to be a lot of very young drinkers just wanting to get into it early.”
Mackenzie Soper, 22, has never been drunk but says many young people in her life drink to feel like they belong. “I think when there’s the lack of self-identity that comes with being young, people are like ‘I need to, in order to fit in,’ which is really sad.”
Julia McCarthy is the Christchurch Co-ordinator of Redfrogs, an organisation that provides education about drinking for young people. Redfrogs often attends alcohol-fuelled events to ensure people are safe.
She said there was a culture of excessive drinking in New Zealand, and a high proportion of young people managed to get themselves into unsafe situations. “Often it comes from a lot of that experimental behaviour… there definitely is too much social pressure in some groups.”
According to the Ministry of Health, of those in the 18-24 age bracket who had consumed alcohol in the past year, 36 per cent had done so to "hazardous" levels.
