Underage Drinking
Tuesday 13 November 07
On Tuesday the 13th of November 2007, BBC News ran a story on how 24 leading health organisations are campaigning for an increase on alcohol taxes to try and put young people off buying it. Within this story, the Health Alcohol Alliance have been quoted as saying: “ 13 children are admitted to hospital every day as a result of Britain’s growing alcohol misuse”. They have also said that it wants a 9pm watershed on TV advertisements for alcohol.
The health organisation has been set up between medical organisations and charities and aim to restrict the amount of binge drinking and provide more resources for health problems caused by alcohol.
Over many years, people have argued about the growing alcohol culture with young people and there have been many arguments and debates about the matter. A lot of us will look at other countries such as France and say: “look at them, they are allowed to drink from the age of 16”. That may be the case, but is this always a good thing?
The Globe has reported that children and young people in France grow up with alcohol responsibly, being introduced to it at a young age and therefore only 16% of 15 to 16 year olds are binge drinkers compared to double that in Britain. However, these figures are now on the increase with Alco pops also on the rise within French society. Other problems with ready access to alcohol in France have also come to light, with alcohol being related to half of road deaths; half of homicides and also associated with a quarter of all suicides. Along with these points, it has also been shown that diseases such as cirrhosis of the liver are also on the increase in France. Therefore, we can see from this that introducing alcohol at an earlier age can have other adverse affects on our day-to-day lives.
There have been many ideas on how to curb underage ‘boozing’. Peter Fahy, the Chief Constable of Cheshire Police has argued that raising the legal age of drinking to 21 would send “a clear message about the dangers” of alcohol. However, Meg Hillier, the Home Office minister has held parents accountable for the amount of underage drinking and believes that it should be the parents, not the law, who have the power over this growing problem.
What do you think about underage drinking? Should the age limit be higher or lower? Why are young people attracted to alcohol? Have your say on our forum!!!!
