While teens will always want to get drunk, as responsible adults we should do everything we can to prevent this (Teens Will Always Get Drunk – So Why Don’t We Just Serve Them in Pubs?, September 10). We know that teenage drinking changes brain structure, harmful to the developing brain and is a predictor of lifelong problems with alcohol. Postpone alcohol consumption reduces these risks. Young adults are not as good at making safe decisions and alcohol further reduces this ability, so they are more likely to engage in life changing injuries to oneself or others or to death.
Therefore, drinking in young adulthood can have significant long-term costs for individuals and the wider community – for example, the strain on the NHS from binge drinking and the social and economic costs of alcohol misuse. I do not believe that legislation requiring ID is intended to emulate the US, but I do think, as a trainee health psychologist, that the current legislation is far too lenient.
The US has a minimum age of 21. I would suggest that this be implemented in the UK as well. It is not about being a killjoy or assuming that guidelines are being followed or not, it is about making people fully aware of the serious long-term health consequences of drinking alcohol. Legislation on this for under 21s does just that. It is not safe for children or young adults to drink each amount of alcohol.
Doran Lam
New Alyth, Perth and Kinross