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Debate: Lowering of drinking age
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Revision as of 21:11, 29 September 2008 (edit) Brooks Lindsay (Talk | contribs) (Reverted edits by 74.6.17.183 (Talk); changed back to last version by Jcrumley) ← Previous diff |
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- | ===Rebelliousness: Do drinking ages make drinking rebellious and cool? === | + | ===Health: Can drinking be healthy? Does this apply to young adults? === |
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- | ====Yes==== | + | ====Yes==== |
+ | |||
+ | *'''Drinking in moderation can be very healthy.''' Studies have 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 in a binge drinking culture. Lowering the age limit would be an important step in changing drinking habits and would have long-term health benefits. | ||
- | *'''Age limits make drinking rebellious and cool.''' The British and US limits on drinking alcohol do not stop teenagers from consuming alcohol, instead it makes underage drinking cool and so makes teenagers more likely to do it. In Italy, Spain and France the limit is lower, and a culture of having wine at the table from a young age encourages a responsible approach where alcohol is not consumed for its own sake or to excess. | ||
- | *'''When it is harder to get alcohol, young people binge drink.''' With higher alcohol age limits, young people in the UK and US find it harder to get alcohol and so binge-drink when they do. This is not only harmful to them but creates a damaging attitude towards alcohol which continues into their later lives. | ||
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|WRITE ABOVE THIS TABLE CODE FOR "YES" BOX width="45%" bgcolor="#F2FAFB" style="border:1px solid #BAC5FD;padding:.4em;padding-top:0.5em;"| | |WRITE ABOVE THIS TABLE CODE FOR "YES" BOX width="45%" bgcolor="#F2FAFB" style="border:1px solid #BAC5FD;padding:.4em;padding-top:0.5em;"| | ||
====No==== | ====No==== | ||
+ | *'''Most teenagers' bodies cannot handle alcohol.''' 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 US who drink before the age of 15 are four times more likely to become alcoholics than those who begin drinking at 21. | ||
- | *'''Teenagers will always rebel against limits on their behavior.''' If they are allowed alcohol at 16 instead of 18, some other activity such as soft drug use will quickly replace it in the cool stakes. | + | *'''Teenagers who start drinking too early have a 1500% more chance of becoming alcoholics and drinking too much.''' People who start drinking before they are old enough become socialised into a heavy drinking culture at an impressionable age, and partly because of the state of their physical development. There is also evidence from the US Center for Disease Control that underage drinkers have higher suicide and homicide rates. When drunk, young people may do things which cause longer term problems, such as having unprotected sex. UK studies show that a third of those who lose their virginity before the age of 15 do so under the influence of alcohol. We should protect young people from these harms by maintaining a high age limit. |
- | *'''Continental drinking cultures are not "mature"; they have drinking problems.''' The myth of a mature continental drinking culture may hold true for a small middle class community, but is not representative of most peoples’ experience. For instance the Spanish government is looking to crack down on massive outdoor drinking parties in major cities organised by teenagers. | ||
- | *'''Adults will not be more responsible role models with a lower drinking age.''' There is also no reason to think that British adults, many of whom have just as excessive an approach to alcohol consumption as teenagers, will suddenly become better role models if the law is changed to fit this continental image. | ||
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|WRITE ABOVE THIS TABLE CODE FOR "NO" BOX colspan="2" width="45%" bgcolor="#F2F2F2" style="border:1px solid #BAC5FD;padding:.4em;padding-top:0.5em;"| | |WRITE ABOVE THIS TABLE CODE FOR "NO" BOX colspan="2" width="45%" bgcolor="#F2F2F2" style="border:1px solid #BAC5FD;padding:.4em;padding-top:0.5em;"| | ||
- | ===Health: Can drinking be healthy? Does this apply to young adults? === | + | ===Rebelliousness: Do drinking ages make drinking rebellious and cool? === |
|- | |- | ||
|width="45%" bgcolor="#FFFAE0" style="border:1px solid #BAC5FD;padding:.4em;padding-top:0.5em;"| | |width="45%" bgcolor="#FFFAE0" style="border:1px solid #BAC5FD;padding:.4em;padding-top:0.5em;"| | ||
- | ====Yes==== | + | ====Yes==== |
- | + | ||
- | *'''Drinking in moderation can be very healthy.''' Studies have 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 in a binge drinking culture. Lowering the age limit would be an important step in changing drinking habits and would have long-term health benefits. | + | |
+ | *'''Age limits make drinking rebellious and cool.''' The British and US limits on drinking alcohol do not stop teenagers from consuming alcohol, instead it makes underage drinking cool and so makes teenagers more likely to do it. In Italy, Spain and France the limit is lower, and a culture of having wine at the table from a young age encourages a responsible approach where alcohol is not consumed for its own sake or to excess. | ||
+ | *'''When it is harder to get alcohol, young people binge drink.''' With higher alcohol age limits, young people in the UK and US find it harder to get alcohol and so binge-drink when they do. This is not only harmful to them but creates a damaging attitude towards alcohol which continues into their later lives. | ||
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|WRITE ABOVE THIS TABLE CODE FOR "YES" BOX width="45%" bgcolor="#F2FAFB" style="border:1px solid #BAC5FD;padding:.4em;padding-top:0.5em;"| | |WRITE ABOVE THIS TABLE CODE FOR "YES" BOX width="45%" bgcolor="#F2FAFB" style="border:1px solid #BAC5FD;padding:.4em;padding-top:0.5em;"| | ||
====No==== | ====No==== | ||
- | *'''Most teenagers' bodies cannot handle alcohol.''' 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 US who drink before the age of 15 are four times more likely to become alcoholics than those who begin drinking at 21. | ||
- | *'''Teenagers who start drinking too early have a 1500% more chance of becoming alcoholics and drinking too much.''' People who start drinking before they are old enough become socialised into a heavy drinking culture at an impressionable age, and partly because of the state of their physical development. There is also evidence from the US Center for Disease Control that underage drinkers have higher suicide and homicide rates. When drunk, young people may do things which cause longer term problems, such as having unprotected sex. UK studies show that a third of those who lose their virginity before the age of 15 do so under the influence of alcohol. We should protect young people from these harms by maintaining a high age limit. | + | *'''Teenagers will always rebel against limits on their behavior.''' If they are allowed alcohol at 16 instead of 18, some other activity such as soft drug use will quickly replace it in the cool stakes. |
+ | *'''Continental drinking cultures are not "mature"; they have drinking problems.''' The myth of a mature continental drinking culture may hold true for a small middle class community, but is not representative of most peoples’ experience. For instance the Spanish government is looking to crack down on massive outdoor drinking parties in major cities organised by teenagers. | ||
+ | *'''Adults will not be more responsible role models with a lower drinking age.''' There is also no reason to think that British adults, many of whom have just as excessive an approach to alcohol consumption as teenagers, will suddenly become better role models if the law is changed to fit this continental image. | ||
Revision as of 17:55, 28 May 2009
Should the legal age for drinking alcohol be lowered? |
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Background and Context of Debate:This is a classic debate about the limits the state should place on a something which could harm people. The proposition does not have to argue that drinking alcohol is harmless, as to win the debate they only need to show that the way to encourage limited and responsible alcohol use is to have lower minimum age limits. Current age limits vary across the world. In US states the limit is 21, in most Canadian states it is 19, in the UK it is 18, but in many other European countries it is 16 and alcohol is usually allowed with a meal at any age. The opposition should argue that an age limit of 18 or higher ensures an overall lower level of drinking amongst teenagers and is therefore the more sensible policy.
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Health: Can drinking be healthy? Does this apply to young adults? | |
Yes
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No
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Rebelliousness: Do drinking ages make drinking rebellious and cool? | |
Yes
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No
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Rights and Privelages: Do 16 - 18 year olds deserve the right to drink? | |
Yes
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No
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Socially: Do 18 year olds need alcohol to socialise and lower crime? | |
Yes
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No
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Law: Does the drinking age law work? | |
YesAlthough there are underage drinkers in every country, the question is whether the law should encourage them or act as a clear moral standard. It is noticeable that in the US where the limit is 21 fewer 17 year olds have consumed alcohol than in the UK where the limit is 18. Clearly, although some people will always drink underage, a higher age limit leads to underage drinking beginning later. If age limits were enforced more strongly, perhaps by standardised ID cards (such as are being proposed in the UK), this would further reduce underage drinking.
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NoStudies show that most people have consumed alcohol in the UK before they reach their 18th birthday, so clearly the law does not work. There is further evidence from the US which suggests increasing the alcohol age limit has no real impact on college students’ alcohol intake. A study at Arizona State University in the late 1980s during the time Arizona increased its minimum age from 19 to 21 showed that only 6% of students reduced their alcohol intake. Perhaps more worryingly 22% of students reported that they intended to take more soft drugs as they would be easier to hide in a college dorm than bottles of alcohol. When laws are ignored it undermines the wider legal system in the eyes of the public. The legal system should reflect the reality of drinking patterns and have a lower minimum age.
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Argument #6 | |
YesWhile adverts for alcopops and beer may make underage drinking seem more attractive, they are not the cause of underage drinking. The European Council in a 1989 directive placed strict limits on how alcohol could be advertised - for instance adverts cannot claim that alcohol leads to sexual success and they cannot criticise non-drinkers. Yet advertising companies were still able to glamorise alcopops in the 1990s. In fact even with a complete ban on tobacco advertising, over 10% of under-16s in the UK still smoke regularly and that figure has hardly fallen since the ban came into place. Drinking alcohol is attractive to young people for much wider reasons than advertising, and the only effective way to regulate it is to reduce the age limit.
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NoIt has been argued that part of the problem with underage drinking has been created by alcohol companies themselves. They created and have marketed alcopops (alcohol which tastes like a soft drink) since the 1990s. Whether these were deliberately designed for teenagers or not, the fact that they do not taste of alcohol and can be seen as a step-up from fizzy drinks like lemonade has made them attractive to teenagers. There have been greater limits placed on alcohol advertising over the last decade in Britain to stop adverts being targeted at people who are underage. However, further measures, perhaps including a complete ban on alcohol advertising as with tobacco, would help to reduce the cool factor and accessibility of alcopops thereby helping to tackle underage alcohol consumption without weakening the law.
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Categories: Debatabase | Politics | Health | Under-age | Alcohol