Against Statement
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The Thai Minister of Public Health proposes raising the legal drinking age to 24 to combat teenage alcohol consumption, while students argue this infringes on their rights. Critics suggest that such a measure may only increase curiosity and illegal behaviors like using fake IDs rather than address the root problem of responsible drinking. Instead of restriction, the focus should be on educating teenagers about responsibility and self-management, while also tightening laws against drunk driving.
Against Statement
- 1. Pimpisa Jular 494 53466 28 AGAINST STATEMENT As the consequences of teenage drinking problem are rampant, the Minister of Public Health is aiming to raise the drinking age in Thailand to 24 years. Nonetheless, on the behalf of Thai students, the proposal is violating many students’ rights to their own freewill. Firstly, the Minister of Public Health claims that by raising the drinking age to 24 years will help prevent underage drinkers from gaining access to pubs or buying alcohol as they will look too young. This solution will not only agitate teenagers’ curiosity but it will also lead to following problems such as duplicating fake ID card or teenagers might even ask people who are of age to buy alcohol for them. Therefore, what should be done to solve this first issue is to develop more responsibility and conscience among teenagers rather than prohibiting them. Secondly, the proposal claims that the new regulation will ensure students concentration on their studies rather than social activities. This point raises a question that the term “social activities” expand or cover up to what extent. This is because, there are other social activities that they could do as well as going out to pubs or drinking alcohol, which could also distract them from their studies. The issue should be addressed by building more self-containment among teenagers and teaching them about time allocation, so that they can balance their own time between studying and doing leisure. Lastly, the most severe consequence of drinking is drunk driving, which often cause much consternation such as accidents and deaths. Basically, drunk drivers can be persons of any age range. Drivers above the age of 24 may be the cause of drunk driving as well as drivers below the age of 24. To solve this issue, the law should shift to being more stringent with drunk drivers. There should be alcohol testing stops all around pubs areas to make sure that drunk drivers are under strict control of the police. As one of the students, I strongly disagree with the proposal, and thus, oppose to the enforcement of this regulation.