Should the drinking age be raised to 21?

There are many views on weather the drinking age in NZ should be raised to 21. There are some people who believe this should happen and there are people like I who believe it should not. I believe that no matter how old the drinking age is, weather it be raised or not, it will not affect the choices the teenagers of New Zealand will make in relation to drinking. For example our country relies on the taxes made from alcohol income and by raising the age this money will come to a holt, and if people at the age of 18 are legally able to get married and have family’s as well as vote and drive than surely they are able to consume alcohol, and having the age raised because of illegal teen drinking could be successfully slowed down if the laws for this are more harshly enforced. However by raising the drinking age it may be a way of curving the binge drinking within teenagers.

Our country relies on the taxes made from the money made from alcohol purchases. The thought of having the drinking age raised has no high chance of becoming a law as the New Zealand Government chargers tax on liquor additional to GST therefore by raising the age the money earned will decrease dramatically. Not only will this cause New Zealand problems as we are at a time where our economy is at a low but it will also have an effect on the country’s who supply imported alcohol to New Zealand. Alcohol taxes fund a great amount of the New Zealand economy and having the age raised will clearly lower this funding and leave New Zealand in a harsher position than it is already having the recession in mind.

At the age of 18 people are legally able to get married and have families, vote in New Zealand’s democratic election and hold a full driving license than surely they are able to consume alcohol. If people of this age are able to perform activities and be responsible for them then in result they must have enough responsibility to carry out those in relation to alcohol consumption. If the drinking age is raised it will stand an out layer when the law is looked at beside those laws in relation to others laws concerning the youth of New Zealand.

Having the age raised in hope of slowly down the consumption of alcohol within teenagers is not going to have that much of an affect as those who choose to drink illegally are going to weather it is against the law or not. Having this law may encourage teenagers not to drink but to get an equally successful outcome may be if the New Zealand Police Force enforces these laws more bleakly for example, having harsher consequences to those who chose to break the current drinking law like a longer period spent in the cells or a higher fine when arrested for violating this law. Enforcing the current law instead of creating new laws may cause less hassle for the government and in result be a quicker way of getting on top of the problems the society has on teen drinking.

However I do understand how by raising the drinking age it may have a positive affects on society. By doing this it has a good chance of curving the binge drinking within teenagers by stopping the easy access of getting a hold of alcohol. This may help stop teenagers getting into the habit of drinking and in result help stop endangering their well being. While teenagers do drink illegally having the age raised may limit the access teenagers under 18 have to buying alcohol therefore curving binge drinking.

I am against the drinking age being raised to 21 as I believe the negative outcomes of having this law made over rule the positive results it may have. If the 18 year olds of New Zealand are responsible enough to have families of their own then surely they able to hold the responsibilities of consuming alcohol. Although I do see the positives of having this law made such as curving the binging habits of some teenagers I still believe having the age raised will not do much to stop teen drinking actually happening as most teenagers chose to do this illegally anyway.