DEBATE: Would reviewing legal drinking age reduce teenage alcohol abuse?

It’s a start! During my time in school when the majority of students hit the 18 agemark, they had to prove to themselves that they are grown and legally allowed to drink all night. And when they did, a good number of them became instant addicts. Worryingly, these young minds are only in college; their character is now driven by the influence of alcohol. This would probably be under control, if the legal drinking age was raised. I’m not naïve to think that minors below the age limit will automatically stop drinking but surely a significant number will be closely watched and the chances of drinking, or even drinking beyond limit, will be cut down,hence reducing alcoholism in minors. Quality research from Australia provides compelling evidence that if we increase the legal purchase age for alcohol, we will reduce alcohol-related problems among young people. This evidence arises from changes in the 1970s and 1980s when many Australian states put their minimum legal purchase age at 18. The decision linked was with an increase in road traffic accidents, and other harms among young people. Increasing the drinking age also gives collective responsibility of the whole community to stop youth from drinking. Today, if a child is 18 or 19 and they walk into a store to buy alcohol; no one has any obligation to stop them. With a limit legally placed at a higher and more responsible age, store owners, bars and other places where alcohol is sold can stop these teens with legal backing. Much as it doesn’t take it all away, it does count for something very positive and can significantly reduce alcohol in-take. While drinking isn’t bad, for young minds it is totally bad. For a reasonably grown man or woman, they have to think about their family back home when they are drinking; they have to worry about their image before the people they are with. On the other hand, for teens, drinking until you forget what happened last night is seen as ‘cool’ and spending a night away then sneaking home the next morning wouldn’t harm much. Young people are careless about the effects of drinking and that is exactly why they shouldn’t be drinking at all. Yes, increasing the drinking age can cause quite a number of teens to hate the system but at the end of the day, it is better to have angry teens for a few weeks than teens crowded in hospitals and rehab centres because of the negative effects if alcoholism. patick.buchana@newtimes.co.rw No. Better parenting methods should be promoted Do you remember the first time you drank alcohol? Do you remember why? How did you get access to it? Do you remember how it made you feel? I doubt. And this last question is the reason I get really angry when I hear of juveniles drinking alcohol. Who really sells them this alcohol and why is he or she still roaming the streets? I don’t know what this world has come to. I don’t know if I am backward but I really would like someone to tell me that we are not being sucked in by western culture, or maybe even their lack of any. Since when did we start bending backwards to accommodate things like access to alcohol for our children? If we tried to keep in our lane and remembered that Rwanda is not America or Europe, maybe we would be able to avoid some of these things. It is unfortunate that we seem to be basing how we parent our children on what we see on TV or what our friends are doing because of fear of ridicule. Since when did our 14-year-old children begin coming home at 9pm and instead of asking questions and issuing warnings, ultimatums and punishments, we instead immediately say ‘Go to bed, we will deal with this tomorrow’. Tomorrow? Where has right now, right here gone? Strike when it’s hot. This is your time to jump into police investigator mode and get to the bottom of who, where, what and when. How will you ever know that your child is drinking when she is used to your reaction of “Go to bed and we will deal with this tomorrow?” Whose bed? Whose house? Your child must know that you are the boss in that house and you have strict rules that you expect him or her to adhere to. Your children should know that your eyes and ears are always open and you are always watching. Of course you are not running a military camp, there is time for fun but it should be clear that there should be a limit to everything. I think some of you will agree that you are the men and women that you are because of your parents no nonsense attitude. So, should the law be lifted to reduce on juvenile alcoholism? I say no. In my opinion, the only law that needs to be lifted is the one that stops us from probably causing bodily harm to those people selling or giving alcohol to minors. nash.bishumba@gmail.com

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DEBATE: Would reviewing legal drinking age reduce teenage alcohol abuse?