Notes

It is a very irritating thing to be granted the ability to vote, have a credit card, and own a house, yet not be allowed to share a cold beer with a couple of colleagues. Our kids, instead of being able to sit down at a pub with their friends, are being forced to hide their actions in dangerous places such as abandoned houses, dead-end roads, and dim-lit parks.

It is evident that the growing rate of illegal alcohol consumption has become a problem for our communities and the police, and we are in dire need of a solution. I move not only to solve the issues of our streets being polluted with underage drinkers but, to remove worry from parents’ minds and lessen the burden on our diligent police force.

Too many of our youth that have just turned 19 abuse the potency of alcohol and wind up getting into bar fights or behind the wheel of a car. If these confused children were introduced to alcohol earlier in their lives, say age 4, with controlled measures they would not be as prone to drinking more than they could handle, and alcohol related crime would drop drastically. Over 10 years of being constantly intertwined with alcohol and it’s effects, people would be more cautious and know of the evils it can bring all before they turn 19; when they are most likely to fall prey to its horrors.

The number of underage drinkers would come to a halt, solving one of society's greatest issues. Our policemen are too busy as it is chasing criminals of much higher degree than underage drinkers, so if we just lowering the drinking age by 15 years that would save massive amounts of time spent on arresting youth committing minor infractions. With this proposal there would still be several instances where babies under the legal age of 4 would indulge in alcohol consumption, and I would say let them drink as well but that would be downright ridiculous, as children are not able to make their own educated choices up until the ripe age of 4. There will still be a small number of babies under the age of 4 partaking in illegal drinking but, the number will be so insubstantial it will not deter the police from their main objectives.

Many politicians have proposed solutions such as having stricter regulations on identification when purchasing alcohol, increasing penalties on selling to minors, and incorporating awareness programs into our schools but, these are all 9 parts humbug. As all of these solutions may propose short term solutions, they will not endure the test of time because there are ways around them and future generations will find ways around these obstacles.

The only long lasting solution is the one I propose. If we not only let but encourage our youth to experiment with alcohol we can work together with our drunken kids to eradicate the world of problems associated with underage drinking forever.