While teenagers will always want to get drunk, we as responsible adults should be doing everything in our power to prevent this (Teenagers will always get drunk – so why don’t we just serve them in pubs?, 10 September). We know that drinking as a teen alters brain structure, is damaging to the developing brain and is a predictor of lifelong issues with alcohol. Delaying alcohol consumption reduces these risks. Young adults are not as good at making safe decisions and alcohol further reduces this capacity, so they are more likely to be involved in life-changing injuries to themselves or others or death.
Therefore drinking as a young adult can have significant long-term costs to individuals and the wider community – for example, the strain on the NHS from binge drinking and the societal and economic cost of alcohol-use disorder. I don’t believe legislation requiring ID is about emulating the US, but I do think, as a trainee health psychologist, that the current legislation is far too lenient.
