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Pulcheria Chung, 18 St Mary's Canossian College

No. Eighteen is a universally approved age where teenagers  can make important  decisions and participate in society.

I don't see any benefits in going against this trend.

Once we turn 18, we are allowed to vote, can get a  driving licence and  can choose our partner for life.

Drinking should be treated in the same way.

Alcohol abuse accurs at all ages.  The problem is not at which age you start, but how educated you are. The focus should  be on controlling 'sexy advertising' of alcoholic drinks and educating people  about the dangers of alcohol abuse.

Moreover, even if you start drinking at an older age, you could get addicted and have problems.

My point is: Where do you draw the line?

How do you distinguish the suitability of a person to drink between the ages of, say, 18

and 20?

Different people have different characteristics and whether they misuse alcohol depends on their environment and personality.

Oliver Kwan, 17 Delia School of Canada

We should  increase the drinking age  because Hong Kong teenagers  drink too much and our  laws don't work. The laws  are too liberal and not enforced properly.

Why do I say we have a drinking problem? Simple. Take a walk on the streets  around major bars after midnight and watch who comes out. You won't see many adults, but  hordes of drunken students.

Rules and regulations are there to  uphold the morals of  society. Our society has accepted that certain privileges should only be available once a person becomes an adult. These privileges include voting, drinking and smoking. The drunken students prove that our concerns are valid.

When rules fail to do what they were created for, they need to be adjusted.

Raising the drinking age will  do just that. It's easy for a 16-year-old to pass off as an 18-year-old, but that person will have a much harder time trying to convince others that he is 21.

One might argue that it's illogical to have a drinking age higher than the voting age. If you are not responsible enough to drink, why should you be allowed to vote? The difference is that  voting isn't addictive.



Should Hong Kong raise the drinking age above 18?