The Law Should the legal drinking age be raised?

[fishguts]

So recently there have been calls by the usual family groups for the legal drinking age to be raised to 21.

Personally I find this to have no merit to it. The man on TT made reference to alcohol being detrimental to the brains development, yet he then later goes on to say the brain doesn't fully develop until 25? So that argument goes out the window.

Fights, sure, youths between the ages 18-21 get in fights, but do they get into any more then they would if they were 21+?

So what do you think, sure it be raised?

 

[Simon_Nesbit]

I'd discern between public consumption of alcohol, public influence of alcohol, and private consumption.

Must be 21 to purchase/drink in public (bars, pubs, restaurant, etc).
Must be 21 to be visibly/tested under the influence (eg .05, .08 etc) in public.
Must be 16 to purchase alcohol from a bottleshop.

Must be 16 to consume alcohol in private, under adult supervision (in combination with 2 above).

Essentially any late teen can consume some alcohol - enough to go through the emotional benefits and experiences, without the potentially nasty after-effects of a big night on the piss.

Police have right to breatho anyone in public under 21, and anyone under 16 without "suspician".

 

[Tex_21]

I'd be in favour of trying to follow the European example, of having beer and wine available at 16 (with a 12am curfew) and spirits available at 18. And, lets face it - no matter what age the limit is, people will still get it underage

 

[campbell]

I'd discern between public consumption of alcohol, public influence of alcohol, and private consumption.

Must be 21 to purchase/drink in public (bars, pubs, restaurant, etc).
Must be 21 to be visibly/tested under the influence (eg .05, .08 etc) in public.
Must be 16 to purchase alcohol from a bottleshop.

Must be 16 to consume alcohol in private, under adult supervision (in combination with 2 above).

Essentially any late teen can consume some alcohol - enough to go through the emotional benefits and experiences, without the potentially nasty after-effects of a big night on the piss.

Police have right to breatho anyone in public under 21, and anyone under 16 without "suspician".

mmm. nope. not when you now have parents who think its acceotable to hold parties at their house on friday or saturday nights for their 13 or 14 year olds, so they can safely drink at home. passing out being the norm....until their is a massive change in the belief that alcohol doesnt harm your devloping body, and parents acutally understand and care the damage they are doing to their kids. I will never agree with 16 being set as an age to legally purchase alcohol.

 

[Powerade 08]

Raise it if you want...
... but if people want to drink, they will.

 

[WA ROO]

If you are earning your own money (no dole) you should be able to buy alcohol.

 

[Scotland]

I think that changing the legal drinking age will have no effect whatsoever. Removing all the 18-21 year old drop kicks from the pubs and clubs will just see the number of out of control suburban parties and street gatherings increase sharply.

Personally I think the price of alcohol should be lowered and the number of pubs and clubs increased. I doubt Steve Fielding agrees, but I digress...

I can't speak for other major cities but Perth's problems include bugger all places worth going to (with queues regularly inside and out), less taxis to get to and from them and $10 beers which are $40 by the carton at the nearest bottle-o.

I reckon people would probably be less likely to become aggressive on a night out if they could phone a taxi, have it arrive at their house within a few minutes, head out to a nightspot for a few drinks, leave the nightspot and hail a taxi home and wake up the next morning not having spent $250 and a couple of hours waiting/queueing with other frustrated citizens...

 

[DeanoT]

I'd be in favour of trying to follow the European example, of having beer and wine available at 16 (with a 12am curfew) and spirits available at 18. And, lets face it - no matter what age the limit is, people will still get it underage

Correct. A change in law will change nothing.

The government should have no say in dictating when someone can consume alcohol. Gaining admittance to a pub, club, etc, fair enough, but telling people what they can and can't do in the home, no thanks.

 

[RUNVS]

If you're old enough to die for your country then you are old enough to drink alcohol.

 

[Simon_Nesbit]

mmm. nope. not when you now have parents who think its acceotable to hold parties at their house on friday or saturday nights for their 13 or 14 year olds, so they can safely drink at home. passing out being the norm....until their is a massive change in the belief that alcohol doesnt harm your devloping body, and parents acutally understand and care the damage they are doing to their kids. I will never agree with 16 being set as an age to legally purchase alcohol.

The whole point was for kids to experience alcohol, without the associated social situations arising from over-indulgence.

The belief is that at 16 kids can be "independent" to the point of buying their own (removing the fraudulant purchasing of alcohol for minors).

The idea is that a police prescence would discourage binge drinking - getting carted off to lockup, put on your record should be enough to control your kids.

Perhaps I'm a little naive as to the dominant "alcohol culture"

 

[Nasma]

This study suggests that having a higher legal drinking age reduces traffic fatalities.

I quite like your idea nesbit.

 

[Dont be a lemon]

So recently there have been calls by the usual fringe, far-right groups for the legal drinking age to be raised to 21.

Edited for accuracy (probably).

The man on TT

STOP WATCHING THAT SHOW!!

Raising the drinking age sounds like a terrible idea to me.

 

[tandino]

If you are able to drive, vote and die for your country, you should be able to drink.

 

[Inferno]

I'd rather see the lowering the drinking age to 16 for drinks with a lower alcoholic content (I don't know exactly where you would draw the line), and 18 for drinks over said limit. Hardly a silver bullet, but at least it might somewhat stop teens from drinking till they pass out.

 

[fishguts]

Edited for accuracy (probably).



STOP WATCHING THAT SHOW!!

Raising the drinking age sounds like a terrible idea to me.

Generally I don't, I still had 7 on from the races and happened to catch that segment. Reminded me why I didn't.

P.S It was nice to see a journalist who had half a clue on.

 

[darcytiger]

I know the first time I ever drunk heavily, probably about 15/16 I did the whole pass out/vomit thing. Now as a responsible 19 year old I haven't passed out since and rarely drink to the point of vomiting. Its all part of the learning process

 

[rdhopkins2]

People need to act a little smarter and make better personal decisions as to whether they drink, how much they drink and how they act when they drink.

Those that can't behave on the grog (ie assault others) can expect a harsh penalty. Don't punish the average person, punish those who stuff up.

 

[fishguts]

I'd rather see the lowering the drinking age to 16 for drinks with a lower alcoholic content (I don't know exactly where you would draw the line), and 18 for drinks over said limit. Hardly a silver bullet, but at least it might somewhat stop teens from drinking till they pass out.

Or perhaps a set amount one can purchase.

 

[bit_pattern]

So recently there have been calls by the usual family groups for the legal drinking age to be raised to 21.

Personally I find this to have no merit to it. The man on TT made reference to alcohol being detrimental to the brains development, yet he then later goes on to say the brain doesn't fully develop until 25? So that argument goes out the window.

Fights, sure, youths between the ages 18-21 get in fights, but do they get into any more then they would if they were 21+?

So what do you think, sure it be raised?

http://clubwah.wordpress.com/2009/09/18/put-an-end-to-dial-a-quote-journalism/

 

[tandino]

http://clubwah.wordpress.com/2009/09/18/put-an-end-to-dial-a-quote-journalism/

Is that your handywork BP?

Makes a lot of sense, in any case.

 

[bit_pattern]

LOL, no not me. Sums up my feelings on these tabloid-manufactured outrages though. I'm sick of these blood-suckers undermining our legal system just to sell more advertising space, it sickens me.

 

[Zarrix]

More regulation is rarely the solution to any social problem. Not going to stop young drinkers at all. Plus the government would lose the voters of the 18-21 bracket, and probably not gain all that much in return because of the new emerging problems.

 

[placebo]

More regulation is rarely the solution to any social problem. Not going to stop young drinkers at all. Plus the government would lose the voters of the 18-21 bracket, and probably not gain all that much in return because of the new emerging problems.

Yeah, agree with this.

 

[TheBloods]

We need to have a closer look at the culture of alcohol abuse here and in other Anglo-Saxon countries, and compare it to Europe where they don't have the same problems. Perhaps that means something like Simon_N's idea of lowering the age in certain circumstances. But it needs to be accompanied by a broader campaign.

 

[HarryTiger]

Calls to raise the drinking age.

Calls to lower the blood alcohol limit.

Calls to lower the speed limit.

Calls to tax unhealthy foods.

Calls to tax smokes more...

...calls from where? From society in general? No.

These are our finger waving parasites, the so-called experts who posess sufficient mental nouse to realise that doing dangerous things less results in less harm. Oh wow aren't you a thinker... (Michael Carr-Greg, David Galbally, butt ugly Public Transport User group guy, Civil Rights douche guy etc)

What they neglect to account for is our need to balance individual freedom and the practical necessities of living with our need to protect. We allow people to base jump but eating junk food is a no no. Cars are dangerous but they have immense benefits. I hate it when you get a so-called expert on TV and they go and state the bleeding obvious but fail to account for the complexity of the situation in the wider context.

And then there's the police consulted for their opinion and they say "anything that raises debate about the issue is a good thing", NO you friggin * that is not addressing the issue, it's should or shouldn't we raise the drinking age, not should we all gather round and have a verbal circle jerk about it. If the answer isn't yes then the answer is no.

And no spending x millions dollars isn't necessarily a good thing if it "saves just one life". We have limited resources and it makes sense to direct them on a priority basis. Spending that money somewhere else might have a much better pay off. Maybe we can say screw that one life and instead have the mother of all p*ss-ups, people die deal with it.

Guaranteed way to cut road toll in half (or better).
Legislate all cars to conform to latest safety standards as dictated by Mercedes/Volvo.
Speed limit all vehicles to 60 km/h.

If it saves just one life....

But then moving down again to 50 km/h will save just one more life (more).

So down to 50 we go.

Down to 40 will save more lives....

etc

Ban cars.

Ban bikes.

Ban walking.

Ban living.

Idiots the lot of you. (not you, them)

Edit: same for drinking!