Despite the
fact that in Ontario the legal drinking age is 19, the 2011 Ontario Student
Drug Use and Health Survey found that 54.9% of grade 7 to 12 students consumed
alcohol in the previous 12 months, with one out of three students reporting
drinking hazardously and harmfully.[1] Considering the current status of underage
drinking it would seem that the methods being used to keep alcohol out of the
hands of minors is not as effective as we would hope.
One way that
underage individuals try to access alcohol is through the use of fake ID. A
recent article from the Queen’s Journal – “The
cost of faking it”[2]
makes some interesting points:
·
Even
though it is against the Liquor License Act, and comes with a $125 fine, in
reality there is little legal risk in trying to use fake ID since such attempts
rarely result in significant consequences to the individual, and are usually
not reported to police.
Underage
access to alcohol through the use of fake ID is a great example of an alcohol
related issue requiring community commitment - from licensed establishments, local
police, the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO), parents, and youth
themselves. Licensed establishments can
ensure underage youth do not gain access through ID checks, swiping machines,
policies that discourage attempts to enter, and by reporting instances to the
police. Police and the AGCO can further
deter this behaviour through regular licence inspections and enforcement of the
law. Parents and youth can work to create opportunities for other activities in
the community and work to change the way alcohol is promoted in our
community.
The recent
addition of a legal
age identifier to the Ontario Driver’s License[3]
may improve this situation by simplifying the ID check and making it more
difficult to use someone else’s ID, but may not be enough of a deterrent in and
of itself. Perhaps our next goal as a
community could be to figure out what is driving young people to want to drink
alcohol, and in particular drink in ways that are harmful.
For more
information on how our community can work together to address harmful alcohol
use see “It
Starts Here”.
[1] Centre for Addictions and
Mental Health. Ontario Drug Use and
Health Survey. Toronto: Centre for
Addiction and Mental Health; 2011. http://www.camh.ca/en/research/news_and_publications/ontario-student-drug-use-and-health-survey/Documents/2011%20OSDUHS%20Docs/2011OSDUHS_Highlights_DrugUseReport.pdf
[2] Queen’s Journal. The cost of faking it. http://queensjournal.ca/story/2013-01-11/features/cost-faking-it/
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