Drug Free Australia spokesperson, Wendy Herbert, is not surprised that a report completed by researchers in Australia and the United State shows that young Australians are binge drinking more frequently and at an earlier age than their American counterparts.

“To start with, by raising the drinking age back up to 21 in the US has saved 16,409 lives from road death in sixteen years. The National Traffic Safety Administration estimates these minimum age drinking laws in all states have reduced traffic fatalities in 18 to 20 year olds by 13%.

Ms Herbert is calling on politicians to lift the drinking age to 21 in Australia.

“Apart from reducing road carnage, raising the drinking age is one of the key issues to reducing all alcohol and drug abuse. Alcohol is the main gateway drug. When people delay the start of alcohol use to 21 they seldom develop dependency or addiction to alcohol or any other drug”.

Delaying the onset of alcohol use also falls in line with the latest research on the development of the adolescent brain. The thirteen year long US National Institute of Mental Health study confirms research that shows a delay of drinking and drug use till 21 reduces the harm from these substances. This 13 year longitudinal study using MRI has produced no other counter research.

The alcohol marketing industry has always known since the days of Edward Bernays (marketing guru for the tobacco industry) that the adolescent brain is much easier to capture for a lifetime of brand loyalty and alcohol consumption than an adult brain.

One could argue that the alcohol industry would not lose out - that raising the drinking age to 21 is in their financial interest, because 30% of AA is already under thirty! Perhaps, if they had a law protecting them until they were 21, they might now be able to drink responsibly.

By  allowing a substance-free maturity of the prefrontal cortex and the development of a fully functioning brain, capable of understanding consequences of decisions, the risk of dependence and addiction to drugs and alcohol for those who delay drug and alcohol experimentation till 21 is considerably minimise”. Ms Herbert explained.

“The recent research study conducted between Melbourne's Murdoch Children’s Research Institute and Washington University, is due to be published in the US journal ‘Health, Education and Behaviour’ should be treated as a ‘wake up call’ for responsible policy makers in Australia”, says Ms Herbert.

According to Drug Free Australia’s Executive Officer, Josephine Baxter “There is a further ‘wake up call embedded in this research’. That  is, the fact that the Australian co-author, John Toumbourou,  says that the findings are likely to be “counter to the expectations of the harm minimisation advocates” as they show that “the current Australian policies are not working”. This, together with the fact that there is a rising rate of Australian teenagers being admitted to hospital for alcohol-related injuries, must be signaled as time for change”, said Ms Baxter.