“Many young people see drinking alcohol as a rite of passage and an ordinary part of growing up, but rather than being ‘cool’, drinking too much can put young Londoners at risk of violence, health harms and unwanted pregnancies.”
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Girls now as bad as boys for underage drinking | Society | guardian.co.uk
My fascination with the particular British attitude toward underage drinking endures, with this article citing the fact that girls are now drinking as much as their male counterparts before the age of eighteen. The quote above is from a representative from Drinkaware, a charity with the remit to help people make ‘informed choices’ about their drinking.
What blows my mind - because surely this would never happen in America - is the fact that even this charity seems tolerant of the idea that teenagers are going to drink a bit, and are thus advocating that they just not drink too much, as if teenagers are typically able to make wise decisions about alcohol consumption - as if most people in Britain are able to make wise decisions about alcohol consumption.
Now, here’s a funny thing: I never had an underage drink. In that I believe that I am almost alone; even now-teetotal friends of mine drank a little bit when they were teenagers, before they decided it was crap. Admittedly, I kind of cheated a bit because I went to university in Quebec, where I could drink legally three years before I could at home, but I still spent my school years in a state of stone cold sobriety. Why? Well, because getting alcohol would be incredibly difficult when I was 15 (I still get carded now, on occasion, thanks to my round face); probably because my parents weren’t big drinkers; because I was well aware that my parents would have hit the roof over it; but above all, I think my abstention was prompted by the fact that I thought that alcohol was not for kids.
Yes, expecting all young people not to drink is very silly. But is it so silly for organisations that promote wise alcoholic choices to come out strongly and say that alcohol is not for young people, much as stealing and driving is not really for them either, not even in moderation? I don’t know what everyone else thinks, but I can’t imagine that any of my horrible adolescent experiences would have been enhanced by Bacardi; I’m not sad that I never puked White Lightening behind a dumpster. Is anyone? I’m genuinely curious.
