Legal Drinking Age Should Be Lowered

Teenagers will always rebel against whatever limits are put on their behaviour. If they are allowed alcohol at 16 instead of 18, some other activity such as soft drug use will quickly replace it in the cool stakes. The myth of a mature continental drinking culture may hold true for a small middle class community, but is not representative of most peoples’ experience. For instance the Spanish government is looking to crack down on massive outdoor drinking parties in major cities organised by teenagers. There is also no reason to think that British adults, many of whom have just as excessive an approach to alcohol consumption as teenagers, will suddenly become better role models if the law is changed to fit this continental image.

There are clear harms to young people from drinking too much, made worse by the fact that they have growing bodies. Research published in the Journal of Substance Abuse in 1997 showed that young people in the US who drink before the age of 15 are four times more likely to become alcoholics than those who begin drinking at 21. This is partly because they become socialised into a heavy drinking culture at an impressionable age, and partly because of the state of their physical development. There is also evidence from the US Center for Disease Control that underage drinkers have higher suicide and homicide rates. When drunk, young people may do things which cause longer term problems, such as having unprotected sex. UK studies show that a third of those who lose their virginity before the age of 15 do so under the influence of alcohol. We should protect young people from these harms by maintaining a high age limit.

Even if the drinking age was lowered, there would still be a division in the marketplace because most twenty-somethings do not want to drink or socialise with sixteen year olds. Even with an age limit of 18, chains such as All Bar One have age limits of 21. This suggests that for teenagers at the bottom of the legal age bracket, there might only be a limited number of places they might be allowed to drink in. It is also worth noting that many teenagers buy alcohol cheaply in a supermarket and then drink it in a park because it is less expensive than going to a pub or bar. This would not change with a lower age limit.

We do not allow sixteen year olds to do several key things, like vote or drive so clearly there is no set line of where adulthood begins. Drinking is also a larger choice than smoking, because alcohol reduces your ability to make further choices rationally by intoxicating you. Given that if you get drunk you might then do something you regret, surely there should be a high barrier (in the form of a high age limit) before we allow individuals to make that choice.

Although there are underage drinkers in every country, the question is whether the law should encourage them or act as a clear moral standard. It is noticeable that in the US where the limit is 21 fewer 17 year olds have consumed alcohol than in the UK where the limit is 18. Clearly, although some people will always drink underage, a higher age limit leads to underage drinking beginning later. If age limits were enforced more strongly, perhaps by standardised ID cards (such as are being proposed in the UK), this would further reduce underage drinking.

It has been argued that part of the problem with underage drinking has been created by alcohol companies themselves. They created and have marketed alcopops (alcohol which tastes like a soft drink) since the 1990s. Whether these were deliberately designed for teenagers or not, the fact that they do not taste of alcohol and can be seen as a step-up from fizzy drinks like lemonade has made them attractive to teenagers. There have been greater limits placed on alcohol advertising over the last decade in Britain to stop adverts being targeted at people who are underage. However, further measures, perhaps including a complete ban on alcohol advertising as with tobacco, would help to reduce the cool factor and accessibility of alcopops thereby helping to tackle underage alcohol consumption without weakening the law.