Tonga raising drinking age to 21

I am over 21 and I think raising the drinking age is unnecessary and not going to be effective. Most school kids just walk into a liquor shop and buy liquor without being asked for I.D anyways, so maybe looking at that. Or some teens would buy some yeast and make 'hopi'. The best way to combat over consumption of alcohol is education and counseling, because in my own experience there are much bigger factors that cause someone drink too much alcohol, like friends or stress etc. Probably the same factors that cause much older people to over consume.

18 year olds are old enough, one might say, they are young they need to be older to make proper decisions. I say they are old enough and need to experience the realities of life and make the mistakes early to learn from them, because you have 40+ year olds still making mistakes with over consuming alcohol and causing trouble. I wouldn't know but perhaps some in parliament or others in society who might over consume alcohol here and there could start by helping our teens by being good role models in drinking wisely.

Malo

Good on you for making these points en 123. Better examples set by leaders at all levels will do more to change the behaviour of our young people than just passing laws. Good leadership should be practiced by the family, community, church, business, government, Parliamentarians, nobles of the realm, the Royal Family … in fact all adults in genera). Drew Havea on Radio Australia this morning, speaking as the President of the Tonga National Youth Congress, said that Parliament passed this law without listening to the voices of youth in Tonga. He pointed out that violent behaviours resulting in murders, domestic violence, rapes, thefts, manslaughter reported in the media have been largely caused by "adults". Education, counseling and research should be undertaken.

In the meantime, what is urgently needed is better examples by adults and especially our Parliamentarians, in drastically decreasing alcohol consumption. And while they are at it, they might as well set examples by eating the right foods (and making them available, accessible, affordable), promoting physical exercise and lowering tobacco consumption. These measures will all lead to reducing the incidence of obesity, limb amputations and heart attacks in "the fattest nation" on earth.

While many individuals are trying to set better examples, our well paid government officials and Parliamentarians are the best placed to lead by example. Reduce Parliament's budget allocated for cocktail parties and receptions and drink fresh coconuts, ‘otai meleni/ faina etc rather than drinking expensive imported wines and other alcoholic beverages. Allocate the savings to activities to hear the voices of our young people and or to treat those with NCDs.