Raising drinking age won’t stop problem

IN JULY this year, following the incident in which 21 young people lost their lives in an Eastern Cape tavern, President Cyril Ramaphosa considered raising the legal drinking age to 21.

While such proposed laws should be welcomed, without proper enforcement, the outcome cannot be achieved. The consumption of alcohol by youngsters is seriously detrimental to their physical health and educational progress, but raising the legal drinking age on its own is insufficient to protect the youth from the harmful effects of excessive alcohol consumption.

South Africa already has the necessary legislative framework in place to ensure alcohol-free workplaces and roads, but extending this protection to the youth will necessitate much stricter law enforcement.

One third of the South African population is under the age of 18.

According to Aware.org, 50% of teenagers in South Africa drink alcohol. Globally, alcohol is a leading risk factor for death and disability among adolescents aged 15 to 19 years. Several factors influence the outcome of alcohol abuse, including accessibility and affordability, along with indiscriminate, irresponsible marketing.

In 2015, it was estimated that between 27 000 and 103 000 people in South Africa died because of alcohol. In other words, between 74 and 282 adult deaths were related to alcohol per day.

While increasing the legal age limit for alcohol consumption can be beneficial, such measures will likely be pointless without the proper backing of law enforcement entities, such as the police and liquor licensing boards.

The fact that alcohol can be sold to individuals as young as 10 shows a clear lack of legal enforcement, even with the current drinking age in place.

The habits of our youth are shaped by their parents. Children who see their parents engaged in excessive alcohol consumption start to believe that is the norm and follow this type of example, extending this culture of excess to their own children.

While there is undoubtedly an increased need for good parenting and stronger family ties, it is also necessary to address the problem at a community level. To do so will require better recreational facilities, along with extramural programmes at schools to keep youngsters occupied.

There also needs to be better enforcement of the legal age of sale.

The government has a pressing responsibility to protect children from the dangers of alcohol.

Measures include an increase in excise taxes on products that appeal to young people, such as fruit-flavoured alcoholic beverages. There also needs to be a ban on free alcohol promotions and heavy discounting of alcohol prices, in addition to restricting the exposure of young people to alcohol marketing, through points of sale, on billboards and at events.

There needs to be an accreditation of school-based prevention programmes, which will improve the quality of the outcomes delivered.

Government also has a responsibility to ensure that there are sufficient treatment programmes available for young people with dependency issues.

Along with these preventive steps, stricter enforcement measures should include more frequent inspections of liquor outlets to ensure compliance with licensing regulations, and increased criminal penalties for contravening regulations.

It has been suggested that a graduated driving licensing system be implemented too, whereby drivers aged 18 to 21 years are not permitted to test positive for any alcohol when driving and that this be strictly enforced through roadblocks.