In the US, you can drive a car, go to war and get married, divorced and re-married before you can legally have a beer, at the age of 21.  But there may be some merit in that.  Two in three South Africans polled on the  issue think so, anyway.

A recent survey amongst 500 South Africans revealed that two thirds of people think increasing our legal drinking age would curb alcohol abuse and reduce drunken driving.  In addition, 90 per cent of respondents were concerned about underage drinking and 78 per cent said government needed to address the problem.

The survey was conducted in response to Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini’s proposal in March, that the sale of alcohol to people under 21 be made illegal.  With government now seriously grappling with the issue, and some evidence of  public support following this survey, can you imagine anyone making a credible argument against raising the drinking age from 18?

[Source: Synovate]