Raising legal drinking age: Debate continues

By Dr. Ananya Mandal, MDNov 28 2010

NSW Premier Kristina Keneally confirmed a proposal to raise the legal drinking age to 21 in her state that will be considered in Cabinet this week. The bill is proposed by the Christian Democrats MP Fred Nile.

But Ms Keneally said she believed 18 is the appropriate age for legal drinking. She grew up in Ohio where, like most of the US, the legal drinking age is 21. She said, “When I was 20, we used to drive to Windsor, Ontario, Canada - an hour away - where the legal drinking age was 19.” The legal drinking age has been set at 18 in NSW since at least 1906.

According to opposition leader Barry O’Farrell, this would not solve any problems. “Kristina Keneally needs to explain how - if under existing laws we haven’t been able to stop under-age drinking across our community - by adding 250,000 18-, 19- and 20-year-olds will deal with the increased numbers that would have to be policed,” he said.

All over the country 70 young people are admitted to hospital every week and four die from alcohol abuse. Psychologist Dr Michael Carr-Gregg explained that one in 20 older teenagers were consuming on average 50 standard drinks a month. “'I’m not saying no child should drink until they’re 18, but 21 should be the age when they could buy alcohol,” he said. Under-age drinkers contributed $107 million in federal taxes from downing 175 million standard drinks a year.

Greens MP John Kaye feels it would be “catastrophic” if the government supported the bill. He said, “The real solution does not lie with age-related restrictions [but] with looking at the people making massive amounts of money on alcohol and cracking down on the way they advertise and operate.” Australian Hotels Association NSW chief executive Sally Fielke also feels similarly. She said, “The focus needs to be on changing our drinking culture and that starts with educating these kids about alcohol.”

According to Australian Medical Association federal president Andrew Pesce, more research is necessary to take steps. He said, “If there’s going to be a change, we would look to see evidence as to whether that’s likely to give us positive health outcomes.” University of Newcastle’s Dr Kypros Kypri presented a seminar for the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research last week on the minimum alcohol-buying age and its effect on the incidence of alcohol-related injuries. He summed up, “Analysis shows there is a 15 per cent reduction in traffic crash injuries when the purchase age goes up.” Mental Health Council of Australia chief executive David Crosbie added, “There is little doubt that if the drinking age is increased, there would be [fewer] deaths and hospitalizations among young people.” Managing director of Alcohol Related Brain Injury Australian Services John Eyre also said that any amount of alcohol consumption under about 24 is doing a more serious level of damage than someone over that age.

Paul Dillon, from Drug and Alcohol Research and Training Australia however was skeptical saying, “It would be incredibly difficult to change the age, and realistically there are a range of other things we could do to make a change - raise prices, reduce access and reduce alcohol advertising.”