Detractors of the 21 minimum drinking age in the US often cite how European countries with lower age limits seem to have no problems. I think this may have been at least partly true in the past, but I have a theory of why now some countries from across the big pond are debating “raising the bar” a little higher.
I agree with many of the experts who point out the pub/binge culture of drinking in the UK is harmful especially to the young as compared to more of the café-type, sit down, moderate drinking culture of France and the Mediterranean. I would take it one step further though, and place just as much blame on the availability of modern media and advertising combined with relative wealth and idle time. Latchkey kids bombarded by unrealistic or glamorized drug and alcohol use from TV, movies, music and now the internet do not even consider moderation instead they embrace a culture of excess.
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Ireland and now Scotland are either considering or have raised their minimum drinking ages in certain areas to counter binge and problem drinking among their youth. The above picture and headline are not exactly popular with the public, but law enforcement and health officials believe now is the time to act. Scotland’s Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill had the following to say about the problem
“It’s impossible to walk down the street at night without seeing people who’ve simply had too much to drink,” he declared last year. “When nearly half of those accused of murder were drunk when they committed their offence, when one Scot dies every six hours from alcohol abuse, when alcohol is costing our economy tens of millions of pounds, it’s time to say enough is enough.” ~ ScotlandonSunday
It’s not just Ireland and Scotland that are experiencing this problem, the BBC reports that in Britain one in five that are between the ages of eleven and fifteen are already weekly drinkers. “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.” Considering the stats provided on the left, just try to imagine all the other social ills that will accompany this type of drinking. Abuse, neglect, truancy and crime just to name a few… you could probably easily double these rates of occurrence also.
Britain should consider making the legal drinking age 21 as it has “lost the plot” when it comes to regulating alcohol, policy pundits claim. ~ BBC
One more thing that I would like to bring up. According the World Health Organization, “most of the literature on the social costs of alcohol consumption comes from the English speaking non-European countries, especially from the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.” So just maybe many of the traditional held views of the effectiveness of European lower age limits are more anecdotal than factual, it certainly seems that the more they study the subject the worse the problem seems.
Also the world is changing: kids are more influenced by the endless stream of media from their techy toys than by their parents and culture. Since youths (I can’t even write the word without thinking of My Cousin Vinny) of today are bypassing these safeguards- new ones need to be placed, and I think here as well as overseas raising the minimum drinking age is a mature and good measure.
