Professors’ demand for a debate on a law change to the legal age limit to be raised to 21 following similar calls from the Australian Medical Association, Ita Buttrose, and the Royal Australasian College of Physicians.
Pictured: Col Millar
Crown prosecutors are awaiting expert medical reports into the alleged one-punch death of Brisbane athlete Cole Miller before the case can proceed in court.
Daniel Maxwell and Armstrong Renata, both 21, remain in custody, charged over the alleged coward punch death of the young water polo player in early January.
Incidents of alcohol fuelled violence and one-punch deaths have outraged the community and have compelled governments to take action leading to new legislation introducing a range of measures, including new lock-out laws in New South Wales and Queensland.
Not surprisingly, the alcohol and entertainment lobbies oppose these restrictions of their industries.
Other members of the community say new lock-out laws have badly impacted business and restricted the rights on individuals to enjoy a night out.
Doctors at Sydney’s busy St Vincent’s Hospital say the past year has been their best in a long time, with a huge reduction in the extreme drug and alcohol related injuries they’ve seen.
Contrarily, there are many critics of the government’s approach saying it does not go far enough to address the real cultural problems associated with alcohol in Australia especially in adolescence.
They believe that increasing the legal drinking age to 21 would significantly reduce alcohol related violence, domestic violence, car accidents and other significant health related issues.
A recent program on SBS discussed the issue with some younger Australians that have experienced alcohol fuelled violence, questioning whether present changes to laws would make a difference. https://youtu.be/3Bp7705aHx4
They believed it was more of a cultural issue that needs changing but said it was a difficult, because it often comes down to stupidity.
Many adolescent perpetrators of the violence regret what they have done and don’t understand why they acted in that way.
Research has demonstrated that this may have more to do with the adolescent brain that has not neurological developed at the age of 18, the legal drinking age.
Recent research demonstrates that the human brain does not fully develop until around the age of 25.
The combination of alcohol on a developing brain can lead to long term health problems and effects adolescent behaviour which is already predisposed to “risk-taking.”
Bigg Elephant 
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