It is fascinating how infatuated young people are about keeping the drinking age at 18, yet many other age groups would like to see the age limit put back to 20. Many would be abusing alcohol regardless of the age limit, irrespective of the bans on RTD's with more than 5% alcohol, against the wishes of people around them. Young New Zealanders are shining examples of a generation which is almost completely incapable of drinking in moderation. 'Keep the drinking age low so we can continue to show you how irresponsible we are,' seems to be their motto.Increasing the drinking age will not alleviate New Zealand of its drinking problems. Far from it, the problems will likely get worse in the University category, even though the stupid drinking games are well above sea level as it is. Raising the age will do something. Strip an eighteen or nineteen year old from buying booze for high school parties. Where does the problem with alcohol abuse begin the most? It begins with young high school students willfully picking up the habit by attending high school parties.
Leaving it at that, what are your views on the situation? Keep it at 18? Raise it to 20? Have a split purchasing age? What do you think the main problem is with New Zealands drinking culture? How would you go about solving the problem? Can it be fixed in the next year, decade, quarter century? What will it take to get the young generation drinking in moderation?
6 comments:
The problem is most certainly the culture and it factors amongst everyone who is a drinker in society, not just those of a certain age. There is little personal responsibility when it comes to ones drinking as it seems like the norm in New Zealand to drink a lot. The behaviour we see in society is well and truly passed down to young generations. To deny a legal adult the right to purchase a beer for their own use is counter-productive as it doesn't compel anyone to drastically change their drinking patterns, particularly those over 20 who are drinking more than ever before. Therefore the right choice was to keep the age at 18.
Alex Fletcher writes "It seems like the norm in New Zealand to drink a lot." Demonstrably so. If New Zealand had a mature and sensible drinking culture, I would not have a problem with having the legal age kept as it is. Our Prime Minister Mr. Slippery's belief a split age will work is about as laughable as it is useful. As you say though, New Zealand drinkers "have little personal responsibility" and lack self control. Somewhere, the line must be drawn to address the problem. So much of the heavy drinking culture is leaking down into high schools because 18 year olds have the right to purchase drinks to fuel raving College parties. Raising the age to 20 will restrict the easy access to alcohol, preventing a fair amount of Under 18 youth from entering into a dangerous nose dive. Beginning to combat this heavy "drink til you sink" culture needs to begin somewhere. Increasing the age to 20 is not as counterproductive as you may think. Not so long ago the legal purchase age was 20 and abuse of alcohol was nowhere near as bad as today.
Stuart, alcohol abuse is not an age isolated problem, it's a culture problem. The age at what young people buy alcohol is arbitrary as those underage are perfectly capable of obtaining it from parents, siblings, or other older adults. It will most likely deter already responsible drinkers affected by an age increase. The older generation are meant to be setting the example and by increasing the purchase age it doesn't send any clear messages to discourage binge drinking or encourage responsible drinking in any setting. It just makes underage drinking more alluring. You have to wonder why there are so fewer problems in European countries where they allow 16 year olds to drink.
Blogger Alex Fletcher writes "Alcohol abuse is not an age isolated problem." Did I ever say it was? No such mention of it solely being a young generations problem was mentioned in my original post or the response to your first comment. Increasing the age limit will send the message that the culture of wild drinking and anything goes will be restricted among the younger ages (where many of the bad drinking habits begin), will be reduced. With the right education on the subject, alcohol abuse will be seen as more of a toxic habit than an alluring one. If you'd read my previous response properly, you'd see I said that nothing is wrong with a lower drinking age, provided the generation who if affects is able to be sensible with their drinking. New Zealand's young generation have proven they are not responsible. This carries on into later life, so when the parents are supposed to be setting an example, they are incapable of doing so becuase they have not learned the lessons of sensible drinking which should have be learnt at a younger age.
Stuart, you are implying that it is an age isolated problem and by your statement 'New Zealand's young generation have proven they are not responsible' you are incorrect. There are many responsible drinkers under the age of 20, in fact a majority. There are a good number of irresponsible drinkers too, but what you hear and read in the media blows this out of proportion. The evidence shows that actually older drinks are heavier drinkers, and that youth binge drinking has been on the decline since 2005. There is no sense at all to raise the purchase age other than to satisfy the ageism of those who are not in the affected age group (and I'm in my thirties by the way). I don't have any support for a change that will take away rights of legal adults for very little gain.
You should recognise that there is a government bill in it's final committee stages that will go much further in reducing harm by looking at advertising and accessibility, amongst other things, and that unanimously MP's are planning to support it.
I feel I've said what I need to and the argument about the purchase age should be closed topic as government have already voted in favour of the status quo, the same way they chose to in 2006.
Blogger Alex Fletcher writes that a majority of young drinkers are responsible. Not at all. Do you assume I go on what the media says? Not for a second. I've been to these bars, experienced parties of the people I criticism, talked to bar owners. All of them point to the younger generation abusing their right to legally drink. Whether or not older generations drink a lot is aside the point. Young people are continuing to abuse alcohol. I question those statistics. Alac statistics shows there are 125,000 teenagers 17 and under who are classified as binge drinkers. Also, it was discovered that over two thirds of 18 to 19 year olds have consumed excess amounts of alcohol. That is not responsible drinking. Read my post "A generation that is stupid enough to ignore every warning sign" for more commentary on my views about exactly what I think of my generation. Saying "the argument about the purchase age should be a closed topic" does not make it so. That which can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence. Raising the age will help New Zealand go some way to curb the drinking habits of the young and prevent younger age groups from having access to alcohol.
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