Hi to all who have signed the Introduce Secondary Supply Laws in WA Petition, Today the Australian Institute for Health and Welfare (AIHW) released the 2013 National Drug Strategy Household Survey (NDSHS). The good news is that younger people are starting to drink alcohol later; up from 14.4 years of age in 1998 to 15.7 years in 2013. More young people between 12 and 17 are abstaining from alcohol also. Please see the media release from the Australian Drug Foundation. http://adf.org.au/media-centre/less-young-people-drinking-but-more-drug-prevention-work-to-be-done We cannot become complacent about these findings and must continue with policy, legislation and education. These three areas are having a positive effect upon the Australian communities’ awareness of harms caused by alcohol. Overall, there are still a significant number of people over 40 drinking at harmful levels and if we can delay the onset of drinking in younger people this has been shown to reduce the likelihood of alcohol dependence at a later stage in life. The National Drug Strategy Household Survey 2013 also presented findings about “community concern and support” and found that the most supported policies around reducing harm from alcohol were increased drink driving penalties and stricter enforcement of the law regarding supplying alcohol to minors (84%). http://www.aihw.gov.au/alcohol-and-other-drugs/ndshs/2013/alcohol/ The West Australian Government is still in the process of arranging a submission to Cabinet about secondary supply legislation. I would expect this process to complete in the short term. I therefore urge you to write to your local member to encourage them to vote for secondary supply legislation when the time comes. Please see the link below for all contact details. http://www.parliament.wa.gov.au/Parliament%5CMemblist.nsf/WAllMembers Once again, thankyou so much for your continued support throughout this campaign which has now been going for 16 months! As always I am holding out hope we will have secondary supply legislation In Western Australia prior to Leavers 2014. Please “like” and “share” the Introduce Secondary Supply Laws in WA Facebook page: www.facebook.com/IntroduceSecondarySupplyLawsInWa. Yours Sincerely, Samantha Menezes