Health officials call for legal drinking age to be increased to 21

Health officials call for legal drinking age to be increased to 21

NHS advisers are calling for the legal drinking age to be increased from 18 to 21 in Scotland in an attempt to crack down on binge drinking and save money.

The move would apply to clubs, pubs, supermarkets and off-licenses.

NHS Health Scotland, the health promotion agency, said raising the drinking age would be the most cost-efficient way of improving health.

In their report from December, Best Preventative Investments for Scotland, they argue the change could cut down future demand on the NHS in Scotland, where “rates of alcohol-related mortality are substantially higher”.

The Scottish government has no plans to raise the drinking age but health chiefs said a change in the law could save lives.

Principal adviser Neil Craig said: “In Scotland, hazardous alcohol consumption in young people is a continuing problem.

“For males and females, the largest increase in ­hospitalisation rates for alcohol-related conditions since the early 1980s has been in 15-24-year-olds. This was particularly marked for females.”

But the Scottish government said a range of measures were in force.

A spokesman said: “We are committed to tackling alcohol misuse and have outlined a package of more than 40 measures to do this.

“These focus on education, diversionary activity, support for families and communities and preventative public health measures.

“Together with minimum unit pricing and regulatory measures on issues such as the irresponsible promotion of alcohol, we believe this package will help create the cultural shift required to change our relationship with alcohol.

“While we have no plans to change the legal age for drinking alcohol, we remain open to the consideration of any evidence-based proposals.”

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