The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health says the drinking age should be set at 21 in Ontario — again. The first time was during the rigid 40s and 50s when you had to have a permit to buy liquor and women were not allowed to enter a bar alone. That thing called the Baby Boom brought millions of potential voters and drinkers along in the 60s and guess what? Politicians sensed that there might be a payoff at the polls if the drinking age started to slide. The legal age for lifting a draft went all the way down to 18 before coming back to the present 19. Now the recommendation to raise it to 21 comes in a report released this week that outlines the strategies it says could reduce the harms caused by alcohol. Report author and CAMH senior scientist Dr. Norman Giesbrecht says alcohol use needs to be seen as a public health matter, noting about 22 per cent of Ontarians drink beyond recommended guidelines.Should we go back to the future on drinking age?
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The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health says the drinking age should be set at 21 in Ontario — again. The first time was during the rigid 40s and 50s when you had to have a permit to buy liquor and women were not allowed to enter a bar alone. That thing called the Baby Boom brought millions of potential voters and drinkers along in the 60s and guess what? Politicians sensed that there might be a payoff at the polls if the drinking age started to slide. The legal age for lifting a draft went all the way down to 18 before coming back to the present 19. Now the recommendation to raise it to 21 comes in a report released this week that outlines the strategies it says could reduce the harms caused by alcohol. Report author and CAMH senior scientist Dr. Norman Giesbrecht says alcohol use needs to be seen as a public health matter, noting about 22 per cent of Ontarians drink beyond recommended guidelines.