CANADA: Old enough to die, Old enough to drink

LONDON, Ontario (London Free Press), April 19, 2008: The debate over the legal drinking age seems endless. Can young people handle their liquor? When do they become old enough to drink responsibly? At what age do they know their judgment can be impaired by alcohol? The obvious answer, in some cases, is never. Adults have proven that time and again. Now, on the heels of a move by the Middlesex-London health unit board last month to raise Ontario's legal drinking age comes one from south of the border to do just the opposite. The health unit board was split on the decision to recommend Ontario raise the limit to 21. The members are all well aware the drinking age was lowered from 21 to 18 in 1971, then increased to 19 in 1978 after complaints too many high school students were getting drunk. They know also that alcohol is a factor in 6,000 deaths a year in Canada, including injuries from falls, drunk driving collisions, assaults and drownings. And we're all well aware of the economic costs. But as Premier Dalton McGuinty said in rejecting the recommendation, even current laws do little to stop under-age teens from drinking. Responsible or not, it is widespread among high-school students. It's uncertain whether any law would change that. And the only result might be keeping youths out of legal drinking establishments, where, arguably, they may be more safe than the various alternatives. That is certainly the case in many instances in the United States, where some jurisdictions are considering lowering the legal drinking age from the current 21. And one of the arguments in favour of it sounds familiar: "If you can take a shot on the battlefield you ought to be able to take a shot of beer legally," said Fletcher Smith, a proponent of change in South Carolina. Canada, too, has already lost soldiers in Afghanistan old enough to die in battle, but too young to drink if the legal age was 21. By Paul Berton Copyright © 2006, Canoe Inc.