- NEWSDAY.CO.TT - A la Une - 23/Jul 06:17

Rethink increasing the drinking age

THE EDITOR: Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar has announced the government’s intention to bring legislation to Parliament to increase the legal drinking age from 18 to 21 years.   While I understand the spirit of the government’s decision, the hope that this will reduce alcoholism among the population, I caution that this may not be the solution that is needed. As a millennial who attended university in the US, a country in which the legal drinking age is 21, I would like to warn the population that this change may cause more problems than solutions. Based on my personal experience abroad, a change in the drinking age did not change the drinking habits of many young adults. I witnessed the proliferation of fake identification cards, which were used by young adults to purchase alcohol at nightclubs, bars and liquor stores. I observed the frequent visits of ambulances to my campus to provide medical attention to students who had engaged in binge drinking as alcohol was seen as a novelty to them, and this was their first experience drinking alcohol. Notably, I observed the wasting of police resources and time as efforts were made by the police to enforce the law, resulting in raids at house parties where adults who were underaged drinkers had gathered. In the context of TT, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, our murder rate per capita is 40.44 as of 2022 data. This gives us one of the highest murder rates in the world. This proposed legislation, in my humble opinion, will utilise our limited police resources and stretch our police force even thinner as more resources will have to be dedicated to the policing of 18-21-year-old adults engaging in the illegal consumption of alcohol. The academic data suggests worldwide that Gen Z is consuming less alcohol than previous generations. A 2023 Gallup survey in the US found that the consumption of alcohol among adults under age 35 had fallen to 62 per cent in 2021-2023 from 72 per cent in 2001-2002. According to an article entitled “Is the alcohol industry drying up? – published in World Finance in 2023 – Gen Z is dubbed “Generation Sensible” by some commentators, due to their comparative sobriety to other generations. The article cites a study by the University of New South Wales which found Australians 18-24 were most likely to have decreased their alcohol consumption during the covid lockdown, with 44 per cent of adults in this age group reporting that they were drinking less. Again, the article cites British charity Drinkaware, which reported that there has been a general decline in drinking since the end of the government-mandated lockdowns in the UK, with Gen Z leading the way. Madam Prime Minister, increasing the legal drinking age in my view will not encourage the desired outcome the government is trying to achieve. I think a superior policy decision would be the introduction of education in our secondary schools about the responsible use of alcohol, to foster an even more responsible cross-section of youths, which this legislative change seeks to target. This should be supplemented by public education campaigns targeting all demographics on the dangers of overconsumption of alcohol. Furthermore, I believe more support should be provided to organisations such as Alcoholics Anonymous, which does yeoman service to those who suffer from alcoholism. Our young people are the smartest generation this country has seen, and I sincerely believe that we do not need a nanny-state. Our young adults should be granted autonomy to make their own decisions, once we equip them with the knowledge surrounding responsible alcohol consumption. I understand that this is an emotive topic and that opinions vary significantly among the population. I hop the government hosts public consultations on this measure to ensure proper, meaningful and impactful conversation, which will consider the viewpoints and relevant stakeholders at large, wherever they sit on this issue. ADAM RAFFOUL via e-mail The post Rethink increasing the drinking age appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.