19 April 2007, 19:05 PM
  • The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) will call for tougher punishment on retailers selling alcohol to minors in an article by The Observer columnist, Jasper Gerard, to be published in the institute journal, Public Policy Research.

Mr Gerard also suggests that the legal drinking age should be raised to 21, or 18-year-olds should be required to carry ‘smart cards,’ which record how much they have drunk each night. Under this scheme, under-21s would see their consumption restricted to three units a day.

The author also recommends an increase in taxes on drinks targeted at young people, such as alcopops, as well as putting restrictions on the advertising of such drinks. On the other hand, 16 and 17-year-olds would be allowed limited amounts of alcohol in pubs, bars and restaurants when consumed with a full meal and accompanied by someone over 21.

“The adverse social effects of binge drinking are now so overwhelming that we need to practise tough love,” explains Mr Gerard.

“By raising the age threshold, it is at least possible that those in their early and mid-teens will not see drinking alcohol as something they will be allowed to do soon, so therefore they might as well start doing it surreptitiously now. Instead they might see it as it should be: forbidden.”

He continues, “Anyone who has come up against teenage psychology must admit that banning things can make them more attractive. No measure will stamp out youthful drinking. But we refuse to admit defeat in the war on drugs; should we not at least try to win the war on alcohol.”

A 2002 survey for the Department of Health showed that 62% of children aged 11 to 15 were already drinking and that 52% of 15-year-olds in England and 56% in Scotland drank weekly.  More generally, alcohol-related conditions have doubled in less than a decade to 262,844.