Youth drinking crisis: calls to raise legal alcohol age to 21-23

A PROPOSAL to increase South Africa's legal drinking age from 18 to between 21 and 23 has ignited fierce debate among civil society groups, economists, and young adults.

- MONISHKA GOVENDER

A CALL to increase the legal drinking age has triggered a fierce debate.

(MAURÍCIO MASCARO Pexels.com)

Gatekeepers SA — a faith-based nonprofit organisation — has petitioned President Cyril Ramaphosa for stricter alcohol regulations, while experts warn of potential economic impacts and enforcement challenges.

As youth drinking reaches crisis levels, would changing the law actually solve the problem?

Lizelle Maurice, director of Gatekeepers SA, said the organisation was compelled to act after witnessing alarming patterns of underage drinking in East London.

“We wrote this letter to the president because we have seen in our local setting here in East London that it's not just pens-down parties or rage parties. At any given time, young people come together in their hundreds, pick a spot, buy alcohol and arrive with cooler boxes, often assisted by taxis delivering them to these spaces,” Maurice said.

She said underage drinking had become widespread and increasingly dangerous.

“Tt is not only the 18-year-olds. It is 16-year-olds and even younger. Underage drinking has gotten out of hand,” she said, adding that scientific research showed the human brain was only fully developed between the ages of 25 and 26.

“allowing young people to drink at 18, when their brains are not fully developed, is not healthy. It sets them up for addictive behaviour into adulthood and has long-term health consequences.”

She also highlighted the risks associated with young drivers.

“At 18, young people can get a driver’s licence and legally drink alcohol at the same time. Drunk driving has taken many lives over the years, especially between the ages of 18 and 21."

The organisation proposed raising the drinking age to at least 21, with 23 being “ideal”.