Call to raise drinking age

[Araneus]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6551887.stm


Britain should consider making the legal drinking age 21 as it has "lost the plot" when it comes to regulating alcohol, policy pundits claim.

The UK has one of the worst problems in Europe with a fifth of children aged 11 to 15 drinking at least once a week.

Public Policy Research (PPR), the journal of the IPPR think-tank, says it is time to practice "tough love", such as reviewing the minimum drinking age.


So, there is a problem with 11 to 15 year-olds drinking illegally, and the "solution" is to criminalise 19 and 20 years olds who drink legally. Huh? Perhaps these halfwits need to give up drinking themselves, it's clearly affecting their ability to make sense.

This is from the IPPR as well, who I generally believed were somewhat more rational than the government itself.

[tkingdoll]

The USA drinking age was raised to 21 in part to combat drink-driving and anti-social behaviour in young people, and as far as the material I've read is concerned, it worked (at least, the stats claim it did).

I guess there is an argument for the psychology of the age gap - 15 year olds often feel entitled to act like 18 year olds, but not 21 year olds.

I suspect this call is based on the USA model, but I would like to see the evidence that raising the drinking age to 21 will have an impact on 11-15 year olds drinking.

[Cuddles]

Of course, the problem with just saying that a fifth of 11-15 year olds have at least one drink a week is that that could be entirely legal. There is a big difference between having a drink at home with your parents and going out and getting wasted every night, but this makes no attempt to differentiate between them. If you asked the same question in France or Italy you would get close to 100% of them drinking. No doubt there is a problem with underage drinking, but exaggerating the statistics like this is not the way to do anything about it.

Anyway, banning everyone from drinking until they leave university? Good luck with that one.

[Araneus]

Well I think there is plenty of evidence that British youth does have some sort of drinking problem when compared to other countries, but this doesn't mean that legislation is the answer.

As far as I am concerned, you are either an adult or you are not. If we have decided that 18 years is the age at which you are an adult, then you should have full adult rights at that age, including the right to buy alcohol. The idea that a 20-year-old legal adult should be prohibited from drinking is ridiculous.

Besides, as a general rule, importing government policy from the US is a bad, bad idea. Authoritarianism may appear to work in the short term, but in the long term it is likely to reduce people's respect for the government and the law.

[Jocky]

Yes, a ban on 18-20 year olds drinking would be utterly unenforceable. There would be mass disobedience, and the Police would be powerless to do anything much about it. Surely the PPR pundits have given at least passing thought to the colossal practical difficulties involved?

I very much doubt that the apparent improvements in teenage problem behaviour achieved by these means in the States could ever be replicated here. And in any case, there is an argument that alcohol is not the underlying cause of troublesome teens' behaviour: it is just the most common occasion for it in our culture.

[Cuddles]

On a slightly related topic, there are some pretty silly inconsistencies in British age related laws, and this would only make it worse. As it stands, you can be married with children at 16, but you're not allowed to see anyone naked or show them anything for another two years. You can smoke at 16 but can't drink until 18 and you can drive at 17. And of course they wait until you can start drinking before they let you vote.

How can it possibly make sense to consider married people with families responsible enough have a voice in how the country is run, but not let them choose what to drink? If you're not responsible enough to drink at 18, how can you possibly be responsible enough to be allowed behind the wheel of a ton of high speed metal? How can you be allowed to run everything in a small child's life, but not be allowed to run your own? What we need is more consistency, not less.

[Araneus]

As it stands, you can be married with children at 16, but you're not allowed to see anyone naked or show them anything for another two years.

Are you referring to purchasing or participating in pornography here? In actual fact the law does allow you to make photographs at age 16 within the context of a married couple (possibly a non-married relationship, I can't remember) without running afoul of "child" pornography laws.

I agree that not being able to buy pornographic material when you are allowed to be married with children is absurd.

[666]

...there are some pretty silly inconsistencies in British age related laws...you can be married with children at 16, but you're not allowed to see anyone naked or show them anything for another two years. You can smoke at 16 but can't drink until 18 and you can drive at 17. And of course they wait until you can start drinking before they let you vote.


And there's more. If you want to go for a Private Pilot's Licence, 14 is the lower limit for instructional flying. A minimum age of 16 years applies to solo flying and 17 years to holding a licence.

[Corpse Cruncher]

Banning only makes it more the desirable. Looking at teens these days they are growing up far to fast for thier immature bodies to really cope with.

I predict when these current 11 year olds reach 21 they will be seriously bored and twice as old as they actually are. Sad really to think childhood now is becoming non-existant.

[Woodchopper]

A couple of points. As Cuddles pointed out, 11-17 year olds consuming alcohol in the UK aren't necessarily breaking the law, and aren't necessarily causing a problem. Anyone over 5 can drink on private property as long as they have parental consent. People over 16 are allowed to purchase wine or beer with a meal. I don't have a problem at all with a 15 year old having a glass of wine with a meal.

The 18 year limit just applies to purchasing (or just drinking) alcohol in a pub etc or off license.

If the UK were serious about cracking down on teen drunkenness then the local authorities should encourage the police to put a lot more effort into prosecuting the pubs and shops that allow under 18s to buy alcohol. (I recall from my youth that one pub was known as the 'youth club' because on a friday night all the clientele were under 18. When we got to be legal we turned up our noses at that place and went to drink with the adults).

That’s where the US is much stricter than the UK. I'm 35 but in the US I still have to produce ID before going into a bar. They do that because the consequences for serving alcohol to underage people are tough (or at least that’s what the barmen told me).

The existing UK laws are probably sufficient. The problem is that they are not enforced strongly enough.

[Aston]

If this press release was a serious Government initiative we'd all realise it was a tactic to appear like the Government are trying to crack down on youth crime/under-age drinking etc. With the current 'crisis'(notice inverted commas) concerning street attacks, so called 'yobs' etc. A minister will without doubt use legislation as a tactic as we've all seen before.

In this case however I think the media has spun a comment made by an individual of the Portman Group.

Even if the legislation does want to pass, something of this social complexity will take years.

I think all the 18-20 year olds will be fine for a number of years!