5, 8, 15, 17. These are the ages respectively of when I first remember having a beer, a glass of wine, regular drinking and regular nightclub going. This all happened when the law was R20. So please excuse my skepticism at
David Farrar's suggestion of a minimum drinking age.
3 comments:
It's better than increasing the minimum purchase age though. I think I had a sip of Dad's beer at the same age; didn't touch wine 'till much later.
A minimum drinking age would definitely NOT stop kids drinking. But it would reduce their drinking in ways that are irritating to adults because that kind of drinking then leads to police attention.
It's far far less bad than a minimum purchase age that keeps 18 year olds out of bars.
I can see the attraction of such a policy. I mean, it's not often Danyl @DimPost, you and Farrar agree, so there might be something in it. However, I fear in practice it would lead to worse than current behaviour. For example, would dangerously intoxicated kids go to the hospital to have their stomach pumped if they might be charged with underage drinking?
I'd worry about that too. I'd hope the policy to be accompanied by some pretty tough damn rules that hospitals never ever ever ever report on any kid coming in for such things, and that 111 ambulance calls about it never get routed to police. There are lots of problems on US college campuses where drunk 19 year olds don't get needed medical attention for these kinds of fears. I'd also want it to only ever be an infringement notice like a parking ticket, and to keep the fine low, to try and avoid that problem.
Back in the day in Canada, we never brought anybody to hospital for alcohol poisoning; but, none of us ever died of it either (ie never heard of it having happened). But I can imagine kids running rather than taking a drunk friend to hospital for worries about being themselves caught.
I'd also worry a lot about abuse of police discretion such that low decile kids of the wrong colour are far more likely to cop a fine regardless of how annoying they're being.
I don't like the policy. I just think it's less bad than increasing the purchase age, and especially if police don't abuse discretion. If they abuse discretion considerably, or if the fine is high, or if hospitals are required to report, then it could be worse.
Post a Comment