Should the drinking age be changed?

Secondly people think the U.K drinking Age should be increased because they believe that 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 U.K who drink before the age of 15 are four times more likely to become alcoholics than those who begin drinking at 18.”

On the other hand some people believe that the drinking age should be lowered because studies have shown that most Brits will have experimented with alcohol way before their 18th birthday. This clearly shows that the laws is not working and needs to be adjusted. Studies have actually shown that limited alcohol consumption (a couple of glasses of red wine per week) can actually have positive health benefits. However this message and those health benefits are lost with the youth who have not been taught to drink responsibly and therefore binge drink and end up doing causing serious damage to themselves. Lowering the age limit would be an important step in changing drinking habits and would have long-term health benefits.

Furthermore people believe that the drinking age should be lowered as it  would bring more money in on taxes to the government. This would be extremely helpful as the figures show that “UK public sector net debt in September 2011 was £966.8 billion, equivalent to 62.6 per cent of GDP- (note this excludes financial sector intervention.)”. If sixteen year olds could legally buy alcohol this would generate a large amount of money in extra tax which could help significantly with reducing British debt.

In conclusion I think that the U.K drinking age should be lowered as it would help keep young drinkers safe as they would be experimenting with alcohol in a safe and secure invirment and because it would help to reduce British tax.

By Clancy Fahey 

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