Well, it looks like the government finally got it right with drinking age. I am sure the decision this past week to keep the legal drinking age at 19 years old was welcomed by many. I personally could not believe the idea of lowering the age was even entertained, let alone considered.
There were many things I found disturbing about the prospect of lowering the current drinking age in Saskatchewan. The first thing that came to mind was - do you really want students in Grade 12 to be of legal drinking age? I don't think so. Do teachers and parents want to be having a drink at a local establishment and have to share that space with high school students? Not likely. Let's face it, kids are drinking whether we like it or not. Sixty-two percent of 15-17 year old Canadians used alcohol in the past year, as well as 91% of 18-19 year old Canadians. And it is just downright dangerous. So why would we make alcohol even more easily accessible.
Research has shown teens who use alcohol are exposed to higher health risks than adults and the consequences are often more extreme. Alcohol affects the developing brain, making young people more vulnerable to alcohol-induced learning and memory impairments, and early alcohol use is linked with the development of problems with alcohol and other drugs at a later age. Youthful 'immature' organs can literally be poisoned by alcohol. The liver can be damaged and can take a few days for it to recover and to get back to normal functioning. The heart can beat so irregularly that it can stop. The body can lose temperature causing hypothermia. Each year some teens die when they get drunk and pass out in the freezing cold. Too little sugar in the body can cause coma and seizures and breathing can become so shallow or slow that it can stop. The most common ways in which teens (and adults) die from alcohol is by choking on their own vomit. If you vomit when you are unconscious you can easily breath it in. When your body cannot get the oxygen it needs - brain damage or death results and sufficiently high levels of alcohol in the blood will cause coma and death. It is also linked with other problems in society such as crime, as young people have a lower tolerance to alcohol but an increased tendency to risk-taking behaviour. It all combines to create a higher risk of accidents, violence, and unsafe behaviour.
Comments from the Hon. Donna Harpauer, Minister responsible for Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority were welcomed by many groups last week.
"We have heard from stakeholder groups and from people across the province that government should not change the drinking age in Saskatchewan," Minister responsible for Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority Donna Harpauer said. "While there were also some people that supported reducing the age to 18 years, it became clear that the majority urged government to maintain the status quo."
Saskatchewan Association of Chiefs of Police Executive Member Dale Larsen said, "The decision to maintain the current legal drinking age is the right one and supported by police chiefs across the province. We know that young people are already involved in a disproportionate amount of incidents involving alcohol so allowing young people to legally consume alcohol earlier would only make it worse."
The legal drinking age in Saskatchewan is consistent with the majority of other provinces. Only Manitoba, Alberta and Quebec have lower drinking ages (18 years).
For now the legal drinking age in Saskatchewan will remain at 19 years. The 18-year-olds will have one more year to learn to make responsible decisions about drinking and be just that little bit more mature.
