ALCOHOL

Do you want your child's developing brain to be damaged by alcohol? I strongly believe the legal drinking age in Australia should be 25 years and over. Alcohol costs the community billion each year, is a contributing factor in many crimes and causes many major health issues.

Firstly, I strongly believe that the legal drinking age is Australia should be 25 years. Because alcohol costs the community an enormous sum of money each year. The West Australian Government has stated that alcohol costs the community 3.1 billion dollars each year. Just one alcohol related road crash could involve many of the following government services: police, ambulance, fire brigade, council workers, hospital services and rehabilitation services. 80% of these alcohol related crashes involve west Australians under the age of 25. Senior Sergeant Mike Smith, from the West Australian Police Crash squad, comments that the loss of life and dreadful injures caused by drunk drivers under the age of 25 clearly demonstrates the fact that this age group are far too young to be accessing alcohol legally.

Secondly, I strongly believe the legal drinking age in Australia should be 25 years as it will reduce the amount of alcohol fueled crime. The Australian Bureau of statistics states that adults under the age of 25 years are most likely to be dangerous drinkers and get caught up in alcohol fueled crime. These crimes range from assault, drink driving to sexual violence. By raising the drinking age, we will allow young people more time to mature and develop, before they use alcohol and hopefully they will develop better decision decision making skills. The Health Department of Western Australia states that in towns where they have trialed this new alcohol age limit there has been a significant drop in the crime rate.

Finally, I strongly believe the legal drinking age in Australia should be 25 years because alcohol causes many major health issues. Alcohol can have toxic effects on the body. The more you drink, and the more often you drink, the more likely you are to experience alcohol related diseases. Cancer of the mouth and throat, stroke breast cancer, heart disease, bowel cancer and liver disease, are all health issues caused by the toxic effects of alcohol. Research has shown that most of this damaging drinking happens before the age of 25, therefore if we raise the drinking age, we will reduce the amount of people affected by these terrible diseases. "My father is suffering from liver cancer due to the excessive drinking he did as a teenager. This could have been prevented if he had not started drinking at age 18."

Many people believe that the age of 18 is a good time to allow young people to start drinking alcohol, as they are adults. This may be true, but new research shows that young brains are still developing at 18 and it suggests that drinking alcohol before the age of 25 will damage this development.

In conclusion, I am sure you will agree that there are many reasons why the drinking age must be raised. I strongly believe the legal drinking age in Australia should be 25 years and over. Alcohol costs the community billion each year, is a contributing factor in many crimes and causes many major health issues. The whole community has had enough of the damage alcohol causes. I urge the government to increase the legal drinking age to 25 years!