When taking a trip to the UK, anyone over 18 years old could buy alcohol. In fact, a 16 and 17 year old can purchase alcohol at meals. Though this has been pleasant for many older teenagers in Great Britain it may soon come to an abrupt end.
There is a new movement to increase the drinking age to 21, with laws similar to current United States policies. Along with the age hike, health warnings, similar to those seen on cigarettes, would be added to alcoholic drinks.
"Certainly, in America where this has been done, there has been a significant reduction in, for example, alcohol-related road deaths," according to Professor Drummond, a consultant psychiatrist from St. George's Medical School, at the University of London.
The new packaging would include the unit value for each of the drinks. The suggested units levels are 21 units for men and 14 units for women per week. With the labeling there is hope that people could keep track of their alcohol consumption for health reasons and to catch a problem before it gets extreme.
"The scale of the alcohol problem in the UK is massive," said Drummond.
Statistically, it appears that most alcohol related accidents are in the age group that includes people over 21. It would seem pointless to raise the drinking age for this reason. When the miles traveled are taken into account along with the age, the statistics look much different. According to the Institute of Alcohol Studies, in the age group 20-24 there are 16 accidents per 100 million miles driven but in the age group of 17-19 there are 24 accidents for the same distance.
In the past 12 years, misuse of alcohol has increased 32 percent for 18-25 year old males whereas alcohol misuse among women in the same age group has increased 70 percent.
According to MADD, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, there was a point in American history where the some states brought the drinking age requirement down to 18. During that time 55 percent of fatal crashes were due to alcohol among youth. Today, fatal accidents due to alcohol have been cut in half.
In the UK, over 1,000 people under 15 years old have been admitted to hospitals and receive treatment for alcohol poisoning each year, suggesting that even if there is an increase in the drinking age there would still be numerous cases of people far under the legal age drinking.
Although the increase in the drinking age would not affect this group, UK officials believe it will prevent alcohol related automobile accidents.
Reactions, in general, have been mixed. Younger groups in the UK will be losing a privilege they previously could indulge, but in turn there may be a corresponding public safety gain.
"I don't know what the right solution is regarding the drinking age, but I think that England would be foolish to model its new system on that of a country [such as the United States] where alcoholism, drunk driving, and alcohol poisoning of young people run rampant," said senior Anne Halverson.
