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What The UK Gets Right

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, known as the UK or simply Britain for short, has really come a long way in the past two decades in terms of reducing teen drinking and smoking.  And most notably, they did it without raising the drinking and smoking ages any higher than 18.

According to a recent report, the UK has seen some of the most progress in terms of reducing teen drinking from 2002 to 2014.  They saw their rate of weekly teen drinking among boys decline from 50.3% to 10% by 2014, a relative drop of over 80% and one of the largest declines of any nation.  And British teen girls also saw a drop almost as large as well.  As for tobacco use, teen smoking has also plummeted to a record low, and there really doesn't seem to be a vaping epidemic over there either.

Of course, plenty of other countries (even down under!) have also seen such dramatic declines in teen drinking as well, but the UK seems to be leading the way, which is remarkable since they have historically been one of the very worst binge drinking cultures for all ages, including young people.  Their drinking age of 18 (albeit with some exceptions to this day) was historically very poorly enforced, but from 2004 onward has been much more vigorously enforced against vendors who sell to people under 18.  Unlike in the USA, vendors are the primary target as opposed to the young drinkers themselves. And while it is generally illegal for people under 18 to drink in public (though not in private) and one can technically be fined or even arrested for it, the alcohol is typically just confiscated and a warning given for a first offense.  Additionally, the taxes on alcoholic beverages have been hiked significantly as well, and that is true for tobacco as well, so those had to have been part of such positive trends as well.

Whatever they are doing, it seems to be working despite their legendary "drink to get drunk" culture.  It would be best if they would cut back a bit on those ghastly Challenge 25 signs in supermarkets, which, as author Wayland Ellis notes, if anything, are more likely to create forbidden fruit by drawing undue attention to alcohol.  But otherwise things seem to be much better than the USA in terms of liberty at least.  That is a clear success story.

One caveat, at least with alcohol, is that enforcement targeting vendors needs to be uniform.  At first in 2004 they focused mainly on pubs and bars rather than supermarkets or other "off-licences" as they are called over there, which merely shifted teen drinking into less-controlled and more hazardous venues (sound familiar, Yanks?).  But starting around 2005 the authorities seemed to have gotten wise to that and gradually adjusted their strategy accordingly, enforcing it vigorously across the board now.

As for other substances, while those had been declining among youth for a while, they seem to have jumped again from 2014 to 2016 for whatever reason.  It is very telling that the UK has made the greatest progress in reducing alcohol and tobacco compared with other substances, and thus it would make sense if they applied the same policies to cannabis as well if and when they finally legalize it.  (At least the moral panic around cannabis from a decade ago seems to have worn off for the most part in recent years there.)

We can certainly learn a lot from our mother country across the proverbial pond.

UPDATE:  Please note that the above was written long before the UK went into perpetual lockdown to one degree or another.  Twenty-One Debunked does NOT approve of lockdowns of any shape or form.

16 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  3. The UK does have its problems to be sure. And fraud does seem to be rampant, and the police forces relatively ineffectual. I am not holding them up as any sort of ideal at all, only noting how they managed to dramatically reduce teen drinking and smoking without resorting to raising either age limit any higher than 18. And unlike Continental Europe, the UK shows that this can be done in a historically drink-to-get-plastered culture and not just in historically moderate drinking cultures. Yes, it's a pitifully low bar to clear, but the USA has to start somewhere.

    Regards,
    Ajax

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    1. Ajax,

      I understand that you are trying to achieve change in your country, and that in your case, perhaps advocating a heavily enforced 18 age limit may be preferable to the current situation, and that you need examples of where this has worked.

      I'm not saying that you are wrong in attempting to do this. I was just saying that things in the UK are not quite as an outsider may assume they are.

      May I ask, what US state do you live in? I'm under the impression that the exact laws, and the interpretation and enforcement of them, differ in each state. Am I wrong about this?

      Also, do you regard the issue of the drinking age as one that the Federal government should legislate on, or do you regard it as an issue for each state to decide upon?

      Regards,

      Wayland

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    2. Thank you for the reply. I live in New York, in the suburbs of NYC. All 50 states and DC set the age limit of 21, though they vary quite widely in the level of enforcement, penalties, exceptions, and ancillary laws. And as for US territories, Puerto Rico and US Virgin Islands are still 18 (for now) while Guam and all the others are now 21 like the rest of the nation.

      Personally I do NOT agree with the federal government coercing the states to set a uniform drinking age, especially one higher than the legal age of majority in nearly all states, 18. It is NOT a federal issue IMHO, and flies directly in the face of the US Constitution. Though it seems the Constitution hasn't been taken seriously for a while now except when convenient for the powers that be (ironically, it seems that even the UK's unwritten constitution is taken more seriously there then we take ours).

      And now much to my chagrin, the federal smoking and vaping age is being raised to 21 as well. As stupid and deadly as tobacco is, there is no good reason to set the age limit higher than the age of majority. And vaping? Don't even get me started on that. All the 21 law will do is drive young people back to smoking and/or to the black market. Certainly the UK has a better way of regulating vaping than we do with our ridiculous moral panic. And the "mystery" illness EVALI turns out to be due to black-market and counterfeit THC vape cartridges, not legal ones. And the latest vaping crackdowns will only pour gasoline on this fire.

      Let America be America again, and lower the drinking age to 18. If you're old enough to go to war, you're old enough to go to the bar. 'Nuff said.

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    3. Thanks for the response.

      America in many ways operates like one country, and so I understand why the 'revolution in one state' model may not work. However, you can consider your campaign successful if only one state follows your proposed reforms. You may soon see a domino effect. America is a large country, and so you only have to achieve success in one area to eventually achieve success in much of the country.

      I'm not really qualified to speak on American issues. Your country is different, as is your culture. But we still share similar goals in our respective countries, and I'm optimistic that things will change in the near future for various reasons.

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    4. Trust me, Challenge25 is a libertarian paradise compared to what we have to put up with in the United States.

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    5. Indeed it is, Anthony. As ghastly and annoying as those Challenge 25 signs may be in the UK, the USA is much, much worse. And now we have added tobacco to the 21 club along with alcohol.

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  4. Ajax,

    What we have to put up with in the UK may not seem like much to anyone who hasn't had to experience it for years, on a daily basis. But I have never denied that the American situation is in some ways even worse than what we have in the UK.

    I don't want to seem patronising, and as I have stated before, I accept that I am really not qualified to properly assess exactly how much worse things are in your country as I don't live there and didn't grow up there. Drawing accurate comparisons between countries is difficult if you haven't experienced how both systems work in practice, and you would have to take into account lots of complex mitigating factors.

    Anyway, I've been thinking.

    Recently, I've left the Conservative Party in my country as I believe they are not good on issues relating to personal liberty. I am planning to move to the Liberal Democrats as they are generally centrist and non-ideological on economic issues, while being liberal where they really need to be, on social issues. I know there are similar issues with your Republican Party.

    If you really want to effect change, you have to join one of the main parties. I'm thinking that your True Spirit of America Party won't make any real headway and that you will more likely have success if you get together with like-minded people to form a new liberal wing of the Democratic Party.

    I would like to help, if only you would let me.

    Regards,

    Wayland

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    1. You may be right. Third parties stand no chance these days. That said, being someone who is actually to the left of Bernie Sanders on many if not most issues, today's neoliberal corporate regressive Democratic Party would probably not want me very much, lol. But I still vote for Democrats over Republicans every time, especially nowadays.

      Thanks again,
      Ajax

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    2. In fact I am registered as a Democrat myself, mainly so I van vote in primary elections. (I used to be registered Green Party, and alas the TSAP is not even a recognized party at all.)

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    3. But we need to start somewhere. We have to pick a party and work to gradually shift the agenda. Parties are broad churches. For example, The Liberal Democrats in the UK want to remain in the European union, while I want to leave.

      I also don't know why you consider yourself left of even Bernie Sanders. I've read your party platform and you seem mostly moderate.

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    4. That's because politics in the United States have shifted to the right over the past 40 years. The Democratic party is center-right and the Republican party is, um, completely batshit.

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    5. You are correct, Anthony. On most issues, the Overton Window has shifted dramatically rightward in the past 40 years or so in the USA, far more so than in Europe or even the UK. Remember Marine LePen in France? Over there, she was widely regarded as a fascist or at least proto-fascist. But except for the two hot-button issues of immigration and abortion, Hillary Clinton is actually to the right of LePen, and even Elizabeth Warren is a bit to the right of her as well. As for Bernie, Jeremy Corbyn makes Bernie look like a true-neutral centrist by comparison.

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  5. I tend to think the whole left-right spectrum is a bit outdated. Many positions could be defined as either left-wing or right-wing depending on one's perspective.

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    1. That is certainly true. And then there is Horseshoe Theory, in which the extreme left and extreme right are in fact far more alike than they are different.

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