Should the Drinking Age be Raised to 21?

Binge drinking. Alcohol poisoning. Alcohol abuse. Drink driving. Domestic violence. We are constantly being bombarded with information about the consequences of drinking, disastrous for ourselves and others. No-one can deny that these problems exist, they do. There is no doubt we have issues in our society such as alcoholism, drink driving and binge drinking. But is raising the drinking age going to make any difference? I’m not sure that it will.

Firstly, raising the drinking age would create “double standards” in our society. By the age of 18 people are allowed to vote, have sex, get married, and die for their country. Are we saying that our 18 year olds are mature enough to do these things, take the countries future into their own hands or to go and die on a battlefield in a foreign country, but not mature enough to have a drink? It just doesn’t add up. If you were to raise the drinking age to 21, there would be a 5 year difference between the age to go to war or to have sex and the drinking age. Do either of these things require less maturity or responsibility than drinking? We need to decide on an age, ONE age at which we believe the majority of citizens of our country to be mature and responsible and this age needs to apply to all laws of a similar nature.

People often cite issues such as binge drinking as a key reason for why the drinking age should be raised. Binge drinking is becoming a huge problem in New Zealand, and it is becoming a part of the youth culture in this country. The best definition of binge drinking is to drink as much as you possibly can until you are completely “wasted”. Apparently this is cool. Would raising the drinking age help to reduce the number of people, especially young people, par-taking in binge drinking? I fear not. In fact, it may even make it that much cooler. You see, the more un-attainable we try to make an object appear, the more attractive it becomes. We always want what we can’t have. This is especially relevant for youth – the main culprits. Teenagers are known for their “rebellious” behaviour, for trying to defy authority and their determinedness to not conform to the expectations of the older age group. If we were to increase the legal drinking age, it could just make these issues, such as binge drinking even more common and wide-spread. Why? Because it would make it even more cool.

Another important thing to consider is, would it be fair to raise the drinking age? Essentially you would be punishing everyone for the actions of a few. The majority of 18 year olds are responsible and safety conscious. The majority of 18 year olds would not binge drink or drink and drive. Therefore it is important to remember that it is not the entire population of 18-21 year olds who are causing these problems. We also have to think, if, at age 18, someone is still immature, still playing up, what difference will another few years make? Also, its alright for the people proposing these laws, they are 30, 40, or even 50 years past 21, so it doesn’t bother them if an 18 year old is no longer allowed to drink, they have already had their fun. How would they have reacted when they were 18 if the ‘old people’ raised the drinking age? Not only would raising the legal drinking age be inefficient, it would also be unfair.

We also need to remember, do we want to keep new Zealand a place where we can make our own choices. Would raising the drinking age just be another dangerous step towards a nanny-state in which the government controls our lives? People are always going to make mistakes, make stupid decisions or have a lapse of common-sense. It is part of human nature. We can legislate until our faces go blue, but is it really going to change anything? I think not. Sometimes we just need to “let go”, and let people make choices for themselves about what they want to do and how much risk they are willing to put themselves under.

So, should the drinking age be raised to 21? I do not believe it would have the desired positive effects. I do not believe that it will stop young people drinking, or binge drinking as the case may be. In fact, it may just achieve the opposite; it could make activities such as binge-drinking even more attractive. Raising the drinking age would also create a society in which there are double standards, young people are allowed to do so many things which require just as much, of not more, maturity than drinking. It would also be unfair to prevent those responsible 18-21 year olds from drinking; they should not be punished for others wrong-doing. Finally, people need to make the choice for themselves, they don’t need the government holding their hands, telling them what to do.