[lokken]

There's no hope of any anti-drinking laws being properly enforced due to the fact that people slip through the net / people supplying underagers (including in some cases, parents) / some retailers can get away with it because they have huge financial backing so don't really have to care too much. So I can't see a raising of the limit to be of much benefit. What I do think however, is that the people behind the counter need to be more responsible and should be 21 at the very least.

The problem is clearly cultural and all I can say is that it must be far better for the young to be introduced to alcohol by their parents instead of their peers, so that really alcohol becomes no big deal and they learn how to drink it. That's not to say the kids won't get drunk at any stage of their lives (nearly everyone does), but at least when they do, they might be less of a problem.

Even so, I can't say a lot of parents are responsible drinkers either. There are plenty of parents who came through my off licence who were easily polishing off large quantities of booze in a short space of time. I am not saying they aren't enjoying alcohol, merely questioning whether people are crossing the line between plain enjoyment and alcohol misuse/dependency. While this may come across as a simple 'blame the parents' post, the only way I can see the underage alcohol problem decreasing is by the young being able to learn for themselves, while being supervised by people who actually set a reasonably good (not perfect) example.

The problem we obviously have is that age really doesn't matter; it's level of responsibility. There are people in their 20's, 30's, 40's and beyond who are just as much of a public problem in their drinking as the kid in the park with a bottle of white lightning/lambrini/smirnoff ice. And there are younger people who are on the absolute flipside, who just drink, have a good time and don't really pose a huge problem to themselves or society. For example, a mate of mine has a brother who is 16, occasionally we take him to the football. I have no doubt that under supervision and limited to a pint, he would be absolutely no problem whatsoever. Obviously as it's against the law, he isn't allowed near any alcohol, not that he ever asks anyway. So even then, I can't really say that age limits made up with reasonably arbitrary numbers help.

Another problem is obviously stress in general - it drives people (particularly as people get older) to drink. Clearly that's part of a wider lifestyle and work/life balance problem, but I'm not sure if that's particularly ontopic.