The government's proposal to reduce the minimum age limit for purchasing alcohol to 18 from 21 has not gone down well with many, including parents and youngsters.
When there are so many important citizen-related problems that need to be solved, why is the government toying with the idea of legally introducing alcohol to youngsters, was the question that many parents asked when STOI interacted with them. "I feel like I'm losing battles with my college-going son as he has picked up smoking. Now if he is allowed to consume liquor, all hell will break loose," said Vandana Rao, a resident of Sanjaynagar.
Dr Arun Kandasamy, professor of psychiatry at Centre for Addiction Medicine, Nimhans, said: "According to currently available scientific evidence from all over the world, it is well known that the earlier an individual initiates alcohol or any other drugs of abuse, the higher will be the chance of he/she/them getting hooked on to it, resulting in complications in different dimensions of life. Delaying the onset (age) of use of any substance is a widely used public health intervention to prevent the development of addiction to it."
While some youths admit experimenting with alcohol by hoodwinking their parents, they are also sceptical of the government's move.
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